PokeWar, Volume 3: Resistance
by Gillaechus
Summary: He spent his life fighting helplessly against a chain of events that spans decades and involving powers beyond human scope. He is forced to flee as his enemy triumphantly absorbs an ancient Pokemon's powers, becoming a demented demigod. The laws of nature are in disarray and humankind founders. But there are those who will not succumb. Will he stand with them? Can they overcome?
1. Renegades

**Chapter 1: Renegades**

"Are you ready, Mr. Yamamoto?" the young man asked. "W-we've got him ready, in the room just outside. We can escort him in if you're ready."

Ash nodded, "Yes, that's fine. You followed all of my instructions, right?"

Eric nodded, "Yessir— we confiscated his Pokemon at Lavaridge Town, hypnotized him for the journey and then only awoke him once we were safely underground." Then he held up a hand and blurted out suddenly, "And at _least_ a mile into the catacombs!"

Ash smiled with a shake of his head, "You're doing fine, Eric. I'm sorry I made you repeat the instructions so many times…" He scratched at his head and laughed, "I guess I was just a little anxious."

Eric seemed to lighten a little and his shoulders lifted. "Th-thanks for saying that, sir. I'll just… have them bring him in, then." And he turned and shuffled down the narrow corridor that wound away and to the left. Ash gave a dull glance to the two chairs that he had dragged into the caverns and placed in this little chamber, next to his sleeping pallet. He didn't know whether to sit or to stand, and he had a feeling that he'd just change his mind the moment _he_ walked into the room regardless of what he chose. He hadn't expected this… hadn't expected any of it.

But he didn't have time to get lost in reflection, because they appeared down the corridor suddenly, one man in front of and behind him. As ordered he would not have eaten in two days, and was by now weak from hunger and exhaustion. In some part of his mind he shuddered at the way the rest of him regarded the thought— natural, unflinching. The times had done their work upon him, and as he stared into Hibiki's face, his change in expression told Ash that it must have been evident in his own. "Ash, you look…" he trailed off.

"If _I_ look worse for wear," Ash commented, grimly but honestly, "then the years and your sins can't be far behind _you_ , Hibiki."

Hibiki grimaced as the two men escorting him forced him into the chair at the front of the chamber, the one facing away from the passageway. He seemed to wilt a little beneath the flickering torch light as they took positions behind him and at the threshold, respectively. Then he shook his head, "My sins… the way you talk, you'd think I'd have known what was about to happen."

Ash crossed his arms, and glared, "You were my first pupil. More than most of them, you should have known that that was _not_ in the name of innovation, or the advancement of our kind. You were _there_ with me, when we stormed the radio tower in Goldenrod, you fought beside me against the fanatical remnant of Team Rocket, so crazed to see _that man_ return that they murdered everyone inside— men, women, and children."

Hibiki's face strained with emotion, and he riled in his chair a little, "I never _met_ him! I never _knew_ what he was like, I didn't— I _couldn't_ …" He shook his head and sighed. "Look, I'm not even going to _try_ to explain myself to you, Ash. The first time I tried to put together a meeting with your people they beat me within an inch of my life and left me for dead, and nothing I said could make them stop. Nothing I said could satisfy them. I don't think there's anything I can tell you that will make you feel better about this. It just… is what it is, now."

Ash turned and spat, unable to look the man in the face. "Two of those men watched as their children were dragged away to be thrown into the ranks of the _Psycho Squad_ , and when one tried to _stop_ the officials from taking his teenage son they shot the boy on the spot and ordered his body left there as a warning."

Hibiki hissed through his teeth, frustrated, "Ash, you _know_ I've never had anything to do with his Military Police."

Ash turned and struck Hibiki with the back of his hand, striking him across the face. "You have something to do with _all_ of this, Hibiki!" he roared. "When you let yourself be party to Giovanni's designs you condemned yourself right along with him! I mean, _come on_! At best he was just trying to profit off the subjugation of a complex species, but I guess even _that_ was too limited for his imagination!"

Hibiki spat out the blood that was pooling in his mouth, and anger clouded his eyes as he said, "You think I _wanted_ things to go like this? I couldn't have even _imagined_ it! Stealing the powers of a near _god-like_ Pokemon... it's _ludicrous!_ " Hibiki shook his head. "You _really_ believe I would have supported this if I had known the truth?"

Ash's jaw clenched and his own voice trembled with rage as he spoke low, "It doesn't _matter_ what you would or wouldn't have done, Hibiki. You _did_ support it." Ash felt his fingernails dig into his palms and an absent part of himself wondered if he might draw blood. "In a little less than a year and a half, he's made our world a living _hell._ The obedient masses live in poverty, any dissenters are jailed or killed, and those of us who want to get away from it all have to live in holes in the ground."

"What are you gonna _do_ about it, Ash?!" Hibiki bellowed. " _What_?! You wanna do what your friends did, you wanna beat me senseless? You could always do what the _P.S._ are doing— have a Pokemon wipe my identity from my mind! It'd be a kind of… a kind of _poetic justice,_ don't you think? Or you could just skip right to the main event and _kill_ me!" His outburst disarmed Ash, made him remember himself, and suddenly he felt shame for letting his emotions get away from him. Hibiki went on, though his voice was resigned, "Because, honestly, unless that's what you plan to do there's no point in dragging this conversation out. You either listen to me, to what it is I came here to tell you, or…" he trailed off.

Ash could only stare at him now, unsure of what to say or do. He hadn't thought through just what would happen when the man actually stood in his presence. The past year had been a whirlwind, with little time for any real forethought. He had spent most of it fleeing for his life, hiding in caves or forests or on the properties of whoever would allow it. Four months ago he had managed to stow away on a sea vessel bound for Hoenn, and there stumbled upon a handful of fugitives on the run from the Military Police (grudgingly known as the Psycho Squad by the people). They had put their heads together and managed to dig out some catacombs in the rocky northwest of the region, and had been hiding there ever since.

Hibiki took Ash's silence for permission, and began to speak, "After that day I was forced to work with the Alpha Division at Alpha Corps. We all were— the Baum's and me. They made us use those machines to flog the minds of psychic Pokemon, removing their identities and turning them into tools for the company's use. Anyone who refused was killed immediately and replaced on the 'assembly line'; they didn't even bother to drag away the bodies. Hilbert was one of the first…" he paused for a moment, paling as he spoke. "When he said no, they shoved a rifle into his mouth and fired until the clip was empty. Rosa turned and used her machine to have the Pokemon she was supposed to work on fry her mind and stop all bodily function."

Ash's anger was entirely diffused now, and shakily he took his seat. Hibiki looked him in the eye, "You wanna know how the Psycho Squad was made? How they got their name? We worked those machines until the fuel ran out, and then they used the Pokemon to do to half the people working the 'assembly line' what _we_ were doing to them with the machines…"

Ash took a deep breath, "How did you get out of it?"

Hibiki shook his head, "I was one of the lucky ones… I had to keep my brain so that I could continue to butcher others' minds. They call them the Psycho Squad because there's clearly something wrong with the Military Police, like they've lost their minds. People don't realize that that's _exactly_ what's happened. Those people… they'll probably _never_ get their souls back."

Ash sat forward, " _Why,_ Hibiki? Why is he _doing_ this?"

He stirred anxiously, "I don't _know._ Not for sure. He's creating an army, and it's already spread to so many of the other regions. Kanto, of course, is entirely under his control now, and so is Kalos at it's back— they share the same landmass, after all. Johto and Hoenn aren't far from being overrun, and I think Sinnoh is the only one that's been able to mostly keep it's freedom— being an island, and all. But I don't know anything about Unova or the rest…"

Ash dry-washed his face. "Takahashi said something about wanting to master all of the legendary Pokemon, that that's why they wanted _me_. I'm really the only one who knows where to find all of them— _most_ of the ones we know about, anyway."

Hibiki nodded, "They're still looking for you, and fortunately for you they have no idea where you are. They still think you're in Kanto somewhere. But I don't think they're looking very hard anymore… Giovanni's new… abilities have already helped him to locate a couple."

"How do you know?" Ash asked.

"Because as soon as we produced a new crop for the P.S. we were told to send them to various locations across the globe," Hibiki answered. "They're just waiting until their numbers are high enough to try at the Pokemon."

Ash crossed his arms, "They won't get far. The psyche's of even the smaller legendary's are massive when compared with the average Pokemon or human-being."

Hibiki sighed, "They won't need those machines or the brain-washed Pokemon for the legendary's, Ash… Not with what Giovanni can do."

Ash's eyes went wide. "Y-you're not serious."

"You remember the riots at Alpha Corps., don't you?" Hibiki asked. "Back when the Kanto campus was first 'voted' the headquarters for it's government?"

Ash nodded, "Right, that's when they first announced the compulsory drafts for the Military Police. People went nuts, brought Pokemon and weapons and tried to literally destroy the place. The news said the advance divisions of the Military Police were the only thing that kept…" Ash trailed off, realizing what he was just about to say was probably propaganda. "Oh, but…" he muttered.

Hibiki nodded and completed the thought for him, "But you know not to believe everything you hear on the news, don't you? There _were_ no advance divisions. There was just… Giovanni. I saw the whole thing from inside. He stepped out the front door, stretched out his hand, and with the clenching of his fist the entire mob just… dropped dead. It wasn't flashy; he _needed_ it not to be flashy, so he could tell people whatever he wanted. But I could hear it, and I could _feel_ it. I don't know what the limits to his powers are, but I'd wager it would take _a lot_ to find out."

Ash stood up again and crossed to the back of the room, needing to take a little space for himself from what he was hearing. The constant flicker of the torch-light messed with his eyes and gave him frequent headaches, and with Hibiki's words adding nausea to it he was now becoming increasingly uncomfortable. He turned to look back at Hibiki, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

The man's eyes fell, and he stared into his feet as they stretched out before him where he sat. "What I did was… wrong. I knew it that day, and I know it now. And everything I've done since is worse than wrong, it's _sick_. Maybe it would have been better to do what Hilbert and Rosa did, as terrible as that was. I don't know. I just… I can't…" he paused trying to find the words, and instead simply commented, "They let me keep my soul, but I'm not really sure I didn't end up losing it along the way."

"What do you want, Hibiki?" Ash asked, at a loss. "Do you want me to _forgive_ you, is that it?"

Hibiki shook his head. "No, that's… that's not what this is about."

"Then _what_?" Ash prodded.

"I came because… _she_ sent me," he answered.

Ash's eyes narrowed, "I don't know what that means, Hibiki."

"Yes you do," he retorted unfeelingly. "You might be able to hide from the world down here, and even from the people hiding _with_ you, but you forget that I know you. You're not running for your life, you're running _from_ it. Things are bad now, but they're about to get worse and the one person who might be able to stop it is _you_."

Ash shook his head, "If she really believes that… then why… why didn't she come herself?"

"It doesn't matter what she believes," Hibiki told him. "It doesn't matter what I believe, or what anyone else believes. All that matters is what you believe, and what is _true_. We might be the only two people left alive who know you well enough to know that you're still stuck on the idea that because people died, because people made terrible choices— that somehow, you failed."

Ash felt his brow furrow at that answer. And he would almost have tread on into the dialogue at hand if some part of him hadn't been pricked by it. He turned his head to get a closer look at Hibiki, to see if he could get a good look at his eyes. Then he simply commented, "You didn't answer my question."

He made a face at that, "Y-yes, I did."

Ash crossed his arms again, "No, you didn't. Sure, you managed to grab at something I said to get there, but you were in too much of a hurry to take this conversation to it's point."

Hibiki laughed. "Fine— she sent _me_ because she knew you'd refuse to meet with her if she asked."

Ash shook his head, "That's probably true, but I don't buy it." And he began to cross the room to where Hibiki sat.

"W-what? What are you talking about?" Hibiki countered as Ash took the man by both shoulders and thrust his face uncomfortably close to his. "W-what are you _doing_?" Hibiki protested.

"I'm getting a good look at your eyes," Ash told him. "You've known me for a long time, Hibiki, but you forget that I've known _you_ just as long. You're just as observant as you claim but that emotional crap you just spewed sounds more like somebody else."

"What are you talking about?" Hibiki commented, beginning to struggle against Ash's grip. "I just _told_ you why she sent me! Will you _stop_?"

Ash sighed and let go, turning away. "Yeah, and you're answer was about as full of it as Hibiki is right now. You're using him as a lodestar to track my position, you sent him in so you could locate me unawares and then teleport in. So why don't you just drop the charade and—"

A flash of purple light lit the room for a moment and suddenly a young woman stood next to Hibiki, an Alakazam standing right behind her. Her cream-colored skin was still quite fair, but the last few years had etched a few care-lines into her brow and near her eyes. Her once long, feminine and raven-black hair was cut short at the ears, and swept over her head onto her left side— a stylish choice that was true to the spirited young woman he knew, but perhaps a little utilitarian as well (if the rumors about her… _Resistance,_ were true). Still somehow slight of frame and vigorous of presence all at once. Even so, he could see that the times had aged her a little beyond her years.

The two men guarding Hibiki and the room were more surprised than anyone and they started at the arrival of this new person, but Ash held up a hand indicating for them to hold their positions. Hibiki looked up at her with a knowing expression, "I told you he'd figure it out."

She gave him a dry look, "He only caught on when I started talking for you."

Hibiki shrugged, "You shouldn'a talked, then."

She swatted his shoulder, "I was _just_ trying to—"

"Stop, stop," Ash said, holding up a hand to silence them and pinching his sinus passages with the other. "I don't know why you two are working together, and I really don't care. I just wanted to be left alone down here—"

"Pff," Hibiki guffawed. "If you wanted to be left alone then why did you rescue every runaway you _found_ out here in Hoenn?"

"I was _just_ trying to—"

"You were trying to _help_ ," Suma finished for him. "Because that's what you do, or at least to a point. Actually you want to do a lot more than that but you won't because you're angry at yourself and scared that you'll mess it up."

At that he leveled a finger at her, "Look, just because you _can_ read my mind, it doesn't mean you—"

"I don't have to read your mind to know that, Ash," she retorted. "I know it because I know _you_ — the last time something like this happened you went and hid in the mountains for a decade, but we don't _have_ a decade to wait for you to get over yourself." She crossed the room and stared him in the face, angry tears beginning to roll down her face. "He's coming for them, every legendary Pokemon we know of. And if we can't figure out how to stop him? You're the only person who can find them, who can warn them. Maybe the only person they'd even listen to."

Ash drew in a deep breath and let it seep out in a low growl. He looked past her at Hibiki, "What does he want with them?"

The man shook his head, "I wish I knew. I worked closely with him for a while, but even if I _had_ been able to see clearly back then, I doubt his goals now are what they were then."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

Hibiki's brow furrowed, "He's different, now. Before he was just cold, calculated, sociopathic. But now… he thinks he's a god or something. All of those qualities have swollen, grown too big for a human persona. I wouldn't even call the man 'Giovanni' at this point… and maybe I wouldn't even call him a man anymore, either."

Ash considered what he said and then gave his attention back to Suma. She just stood there, glaring at him and weeping silently. He sighed, exasperation building up, and shrugged his shoulders. "Look, you're practically psychic now. Why can't _you_ just—"

"Because I'm _scared,_ Ash," she interrupted. "And it's not just me, there's a whole _world_ full of people out there, terrified out of their minds."

And that pulled at something inside him, and a great swell of emotion that he had kept long buried suddenly flooded his mind. He turned and practically roared as he threw his fist into the cavern wall, probably breaking a knuckle or two but too emotional to really care at the moment. "What do you _want_ from me, Suma?" he bellowed. "Do you want me to _save_ you, is that it?! Don't you realize I can't save _anyone_? Look, just _look_ at how many people have _died_ because I couldn't save them— Pikachu, Misty, Hilbert and Rosalind, May, _your_ coworkers, _my_ wife; we _still_ don't know where Brock and Dawn and Ryuji are, or if they're even alive." He waited a moment, letting that last name sink in and only a little comfortable with his insensitivity. "And lets not forget the thousands of people killed over the past thirty-five years because I couldn't stop this or that criminal organization in time, or prevent the catastrophes they've caused."

Suma threw a fist of her own, but she must have forgotten she was still psychically linked with Alakazam, because instead of a vain flap of her right arm a burst of psychic energy erupted from her hand and pelted the side of the cavern, shaking the room considerably. Perhaps the most disturbed by her outburst were the guards, both of whom lost their balance and fell on their backsides. As they rose they started for Suma, but Hibiki grabbed at both of their wrists, _emphatically_ shaking his head at them both. At that they both hesitated and waited a few feet away.

"I didn't _ask_ you to save me, Ash!" she answered him, her voice cracking against the strain. "And if you have _really_ believed all these years that that's what you were supposed to do, then your own _stupid_ and _unrealistic_ expectations are the only reason you're so pissed at yourself."

"Then what do you _want_?" Ash roared, crossing the room to stand before her again.

"I want you to _help me!"_ she cried, striking his chest with her fist. Once again, she had forgotten her psychic link with Alakazam, and the blow sent a burst of psychic energy through Ash's body and sent him sprawling across the floor and rendering him unconscious.

* * *

His vision was murky as he came to, and his head throbbed— probably from scraping against the cavern floor. Voices, muffled at his still returning consciousness, chattered above him. "…still breathing."

"It hasn't even been a _minute_ , yet, Hibiki…"

"…knew we should have _done something_ when we…"

A muffled laugh, and then, "If I hadn't stopped you, _you'd_ be crumpled up on the ground right now."

Another voice interjected, but somehow Ash thought he didn't hear it with his ears. " **If you'll stand aside, I'll untangle his mental faculties.** " Ash heard the shuffling of feet around him and then, suddenly, he could both see and hear again. He took a moment from where he lay to survey the group before him— his guards, Frederick and Gunter physically debated with Hibiki and Suma for rights to stand closest to him, while in front of the four of them and a foot from Ash stood Suma's Alakazam. The corners of his mouth turned upward, and he realized that the Pokemon was smiling at him. " **I apologize for not intervening sooner. I should have anticipated her emotional behavior much earlier.** "

Suma groaned at his words, but Frederick and Gunter both gripped their ears vehemently. "I can _hear_ it but I _can't_ hear it!" Freddy grumbled. "It feels… _wrong_."

Gunter searched the room, still gripping his ears, "Who's talking?!"

"Relax, both of you," Ash chided, rising to his feet. "The voice you hear is just the psychic projection of Alakazam's thoughts." Both men seemed to relax upon understanding it, but were probably at this point pretty well distressed. Ash sighed and waved them off, "Go on, you could use a break."

Frederick lowered his hands, "No way, I'm not leaving you here _alone_ with—"

Ash simply raised his eyebrows and said, "Go." Both men glanced nervously at each other, but complied. The other two shared their own nervous looks and Ash shook his head. With a supplicating gesture, he said only, "Sit," and sat himself upon the ground cross-legged. Suma and Hibiki sighed and joined him, but Alakazam kept his feet.

" **I can't really…** "

Ash smiled and waved off his concern. "Don't worry, just… make yourself comfortable." The Pokemon nodded and shuffled off into the corner. Ash looked wearily back at the two, young people before him. He shook his head again, "You guys are gonna wear me out."

Suma laughed, though seemed still a little nervous. "I'm sorry I, you know… Hit you with a blast of psychic energy and boggled your brain… and stuff."

He shrugged with a sigh, "It… happens? Whatever. Don't worry about it."

She nodded, then looked at Hibiki, who gave her an urging nod towards Ash. She made an anxious face and then gave her attention back to her old teacher. "I didn't come here to ask you to save us, Ash. I came to ask you for help. I think I know you pretty well, but I also think that by now you should know _me_ pretty well. Like, you should _know_ by now that there's no way I could just sit by and watch the world fall apart. That's not who I am."

Ash smiled, somewhat sadly, "Yeah, I know."

She nodded, emotion returning to her eyes. "But unlike you, I'm not under any illusion that I should just try to save the whole world… and yeah, it's because I _know_ I can't do it. But I've got to do _something_ … I just don't want to do it alone."

Ash felt himself press up against the wall, lifting his knees against his chest and clenching his fists tightly as his arms wrapped around his legs. "I… I don't know, Suma. I don't know if I can do it."

"I don't either," she told him simply, to his surprise. And perhaps for the first time since she arrived he allowed himself to look her in the eye, as she went on, "I have no idea if we can succeed. But I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't try… and I need _you_ if I'm gonna do it."

Ash laughed, somewhat bitterly, " _Me_? How am _I_ supposed to be any help to you?"

She took a deep breath, as if her answer was harder for her than she liked, "Next to Ryuji… Next to Ryuji, you've probably been the most important person in my world, Ash. You were my teacher, my friend… one of the closest things I have to family. Even if you didn't do _anything_ … I would just want you there for _me_." Tears began to stream down her face again, and her eyes fell to the ground. "I haven't been able to find him, Ash… I can't _find_ him. I've spent every spare moment I have searching, physically and psychically, but I don't know where he is. I don't think he's alive anymore, that _they're_ alive anymore... I just want to find him so I can..." she trailed off. "And even if he _was_ here… I'd still need you. I'd need you both." Small sobs began to wrack her slight frame, and Alakazam came to stand beside her, placing a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "If we have to _die_ ," she cried, her voice breaking now, "please… at least let me die with the people I love."

He could only sit there now, watching silently as she sat there weeping. She tried to wipe at the tears with her sleeve but they just kept coming and it was no use. And at last he thought he understood her pain, and maybe even the pain of his old friends Misty, Brock, and so many others. Life was, after all, lately so _full_ of suffering… and to have to endure that, and the fear that came with it, alone? No, perhaps it was _his own_ pain he finally understood. It wasn't just failure he had been running from. It was the _loss_ , it was the sudden and ripping loneliness.

And now, of course, he knew what he had to do. Daggum young people, always making him do stuff… he sighed, and rose to his feet. His sudden movement alarmed Suma and Hibiki, and they watched him carefully. And looking her in the eye, he said, "No."

She was taken aback at his response. " _No?_ N-no, what?"

He shook his head, feeling a little indignant himself. " _No_ , I will _not_ just _go_ with you to keep you company. That would be a complete waste of both our time."

She jumped to her feet, a cocktail of emotion in her eyes, "So you'll help?!"

He groaned. "Ugh, yes." She screeched at that and tackle-hugged him, and he groaned again, "Hey, _watch_ it! You just _knocked_ me out, remember?"

"Sorry, sorry!" she muttered, helping him back to his feet. "I just got excited." She grinned and scratched at her head sheepishly.

He shook his head and smiled a little himself, "Yeah, I gathered."

Suma turned to Alakazam and took him by the shoulders, shaking him a little, "Did you _hear_ that, Al?— he's gonna _help!"_

Alakazam took both of her hands and gently removed them from his person, " **Yes, I heard."** Then he made a sound Ash took to be a chuckle.

"Hm," Ash wondered, "so you've taught him to air his thoughts like speech, huh?"

Suma smiled, "If you're talking about the fact that everyone can hear him now, that was his idea. He thought it would make others more comfortable if he communicated as much like us as possible."

Ash nodded, "That's impressive, to be sure. And did I hear that right, you nicknamed him?"

Suma laughed, "Again, his idea."

" **I thought it would make me more relatable to other humans if I had a simpler** **name,** " Al explained. " **And yes, that's probably the result of my conditioning, concerning the fact that my only lasting relationships have been with humans**."

Ash nodded, "Right, that's what I was thinking. You know, it would be interesting to maybe take some time to consider how that has affected your perspective— forming human-like relationships."

Al nodded, and seemed as though intrigued by a thought he had never considered. " **Yes, that** ** _would_** **actually be interesting. Perhaps we can discuss it sometime… over coffee** ** _._** **"**

Ash felt his brow leap, "You drink _coffee_?"

"Uhm, Ash?" Suma interrupted.

"Yeah?" Ash answered.

"Maybe we can make small talk later?" she suggested.

"Ah," Ash remarked. "Yeah, probably a good a idea." He hummed as he considered what he would do next, but then he really didn't need to think about it much. "Eric!"

He had hardly finished speaking the young man's name when his head poked around the corner, "Yes?"

Ash almost chuckled, as he had figured some wouldn't be able to resist eavesdropping. "Call them in." The man grinned, and lifting his hand to his mouth whistled before entering the cavern. Behind him filed in twelve other young men and women, the runaways he'd befriended over the past year. Once they were all in, they watched him carefully as he studied their faces. They were eager, and probably already knew what he was going to say. But, just to get a reaction out of them, he said it anyway. "Pack your things— we're moving out!" And they cheered to hear it.


	2. Rejects

**Chapter 2: Rejects**

"I don't think this is a good idea," Hibiki repeated dryly as Ash roamed the cavern for the last time, checking he had packed everything he needed for the journey.

Suma clapped and dry-washed her hands as she entered the cavern, apparently unable and unwilling to keep herself from grinning. "I think it's a _great_ idea."

Hibiki gave her a pointed glare, and she just grinned all the wider. With a roll of his eyes, he turned to Ash again, "I thought we were gonna try to warn the legendary Pokemon," he reasoned. "This isn't... His headquarters is _just_ beyond those mountains, Ash." When Ash continued to ignore him— rummaging through his bag for _Arceus_ knows what— Hibiki pressed his point a little further, "Were your ears stoppered when I told you what he could do? _He'll be barely two-hundred miles away._ "

Ash shrugged, "Means we won't have far to go." Hibiki stifled a groan and let his weight fall against the cavern wall at his back. That answer was a cop out— he knew it, Ash knew it, and Suma probably knew it, too. He hadn't brought it up because he thought Ash needed reminding; he had brought it up— _again_ — because if they were going to do what they were _planning_ to do, then they would need a _lot_ more firepower than whatever Suma could dredge up from the little "resistance" she had been leading. His teacher had always had the frustrating habit of failing to explain himself and it drove Hibiki _nuts_.

It troubled him more to wonder if Suma had even thought that far, because the gleeful expression would have indicated otherwise. Finally looking up from his pack, Ash slung it over his shoulder and caught the undisguised aggravation in his student's eyes. Apparently unmoved, he gave Suma a once over, "You already done?"

Suma nodded, hands on her hips— _what are you, five_? "Yes, sensei," she said, hiking a thumb over her shoulder at Al behind her and ignoring the groans of both Ash and Hibiki, "the psychic messages have been sent."

A single raised eyebrow. "Any reply?" Ash returned.

She shook her head. "Al's the most powerful psychic Pokemon we have," she explained, "but it's one thing for him to project his own mind over such vast distances— and another to grasp at others'."

"How many trainers did you say you had?" Hibiki asked, forgetting.

"We have forty-two people, and thirty of them work with a Pokemon," she answered. Hibiki had forgotten she didn't like the word _trainer_ — an aversion she had adopted from their teacher and that had swollen a little beyond even his.

Ash nodded at Hibiki, clearly disinterested in further discussion. "That will be enough."

Hibiki felt his neck crane his head forward, an involuntary gesture of incredulity. "No. No it won't," he crowed, refusing to let Ash eek out of the conversation. "Ash, you haven't _been_ there. On top of the place being patrolled _day and night_ by the psycho squad— armed with guns and crazed Pokemon, by the way— the entire city of Cerulean is like a dystopian _nightmare_. Businesses have been shut down, entire sections of the city cut off, people forced into hard and potentially fatal labor... _Not to mention_ the maniacal demagogue turned demi-god, who can kill crowds with a _thought_."

Ash sighed and pinched at his sinuses, but he couldn't be more fed up with hearing it than Hibiki was with _saying_ it. They'd spent the last twenty-four hours holed up in Ash's caverns, planning out their next steps— inciting Hibiki's protest because the plan was _hardly_ effectual. Ash lowered his hand and met his imploring gaze, perhaps at last being worn down by reason. So, Hibiki drove the point home: " _They're going to notice sixty-something random people sneaking into the city_."

Ash and Suma shared a look, and finally Ash answered, "We aren't going to sneak in."

If Hibiki's head could jut any further, it would fly off his shoulders and pelt Ash in the face. "Well we can't just _hop on the magnet train_ , Ash, so… how are we supposed to _get_ there from the mountains?" Another shared look, and this time Hibiki thought he knew what it meant. _Really_? "…You don't _trust_ me?"

Suma held up reassuring hands, stepping away from Ash a little to emphasize her innocence. "Hey, he didn't explain it to _me_ , either. I don't know what he's got planned beyond getting there and getting out— and even _that's_ a little fuzzy."

Hibiki pulled a face. "You expect me to believe that? You two have been thick as thieves for the past _day—_ you guys and his other outcasts— hatching this half-baked plan."

Ash raised a finger, "The only person Suma's been thick with is Al— they've spent most of the past day getting in touch with their friends."

He groaned at that. "Ash, that's not the _point_. Clearly you've got something up your sleeve, and _I—"_

"You _what_?" Ash interjected, his patience apparently broken. He stepped closer, close enough to make Hibiki uncomfortable. "You _still_ think you're entitled to know, to know _everything_? How is it you _still_ haven't outgrown this?"

Hibiki couldn't hold his position and was forced to take a step back, but he refused to look away. Perhaps his frustration from the yesterday hadn't fully subsided… but that didn't excuse…"Don't _talk_ to me like I'm still a _kid,_ Ash. You have _no idea_ what I went through when I was there, what I went through trying to escape… and you want me to just waltz back in— _blind_ - _folded_?"

"I want you to _trust_ me," Ash returned, chewing each word through a growl.

"When you won't trust _me_?" Hibiki countered, purposefully lowering his voice. Ash sighed bitterly, seemingly at a loss for what to say. Hibiki wasn't interested in another shouting match, not after yesterday— and Arceus knows they'd had their fair share over the years, could hardly see eye to eye on _anything_. But then something seemed to flicker in Ash's eyes, and his gaze returned to Hibiki's. "Do you remember Goldenrod?" Hibiki groaned and was about to protest, but Ash repeated, " _Do you remember it_?"

"Yes, I remember," Hibiki clipped.

Ash nodded. "We had almost this same argument, outside the city."

Hibiki nodded in turn, "Yeah, we…" he sighed, the second wave of his frustration diverting. "We were getting ready storm the Radio Tower. You were _really_ on edge— more than I had expected, at least."

"Right," Ash confirmed, "and when you asked me about it, I wouldn't tell you."

Hearing Ash say it like that, caught him off-guard. He was surprised as a wave of emotion surged behind his eyes. Something about the way he said it… like Ash actually understood how he felt. And that _was_ how he had felt, like he _wouldn't_ tell him. To his surprise, that was actually how he was feeling now. "You… you were always so, _private_. I didn't know what to think—"

Ash's hand fell on his shoulder, hushing him. "I know."

Ash let his hand fall after a moment, running it through his graying hair— grown longer now than Hibiki had ever seen it, almost grown past his ears. "Umm…" a small voice intoned to their left. Both heads turned: Suma. Hibiki had almost forgotten about her (she and Al had scuttled off to the side when he and Ash had begun to argue outright). "Look, it sounds like there's some stuff you guys need to sort through, but… you guys, we need to teleport soon…"

Ash nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry, Suma." With a glance at Hibiki, he peered past Suma at Al, "Have you been able to find the place I mentioned to you?"

The pokemon nodded, imitating again one of it's favorite human gestures. " **I did. The cave is precisely where you said it would be."**

"And… the other thing?" Ash pried.

" **I cannot be certain.** "

Ash nodded, almost to himself it seemed. "Well, the fact that you can't be certain is proof enough for me."

" **If it is truly as you expected, I would be inclined to agree,"** Al affirmed. Hibiki sent Suma a meaningful look, but she just shook her head. The cave was some little known breach in the mountains of Ka (the great landmass shared by the regions Kanto and Kalos). Victory Road, Mt. Moon, and this unknown cave— these were just a few of the known networks of caves the great mountains housed. But whatever else it was he had asked Al to find… it seemed Ash _hadn't_ told either of his former pupils.

With a nod, she prompted Hibiki to join her where she stood, and he reluctantly obliged. Ash studied the two of them carefully, and then he told them, "We aren't just using the cave as a rendezvous point, though it seems you've already made that conclusion for yourselves." Hibiki felt Suma's eyes on him but he kept his focus on Ash. "You're right, Hibiki," Ash admitted, "if we're going to confront Giovanni then we're going to need more help than we can get between the three of us."

Ash crossed the distance between them and put his hands on both their shoulders. With a nod at Al, the pokemon slipped past Suma and Hibiki and came to stand in the center of the triangle they formed. "If I am right, an old acquaintance has taken up residence in this cave. And he's the only one with a chance of turning the tide." He let the words sink in, probably knowing that they wouldn't mean much but hoping they would be enough. "My friends will join us by teleportation as soon as they receive word back from us. But first… we need to find him."

Ash gave another nod to Al, and the pokemon let it's eyelids droop for a moment. Each put a hand on Al's shoulder as he concentrated, and then his eyes went wide and milk-white, and everything around them went black.

* * *

It was like being plunged into the depths of the ocean, instantly— heavy and dark and limbs leaden with the immensity of emptiness. It had been years since Ash had been party to teleportation, and after so long it made his breath catch uncomfortably, made his head swim. The black seemed to stretch on for an eternity— both in space and time— until he thought his lungs would explode from lack of air. But then they were thrust panting back into reality amidst a meandering grass-line nestled between the woodlands and the river at the mountains' feet.

He shook his head, trying to clear his swimming senses. Hibiki stumbled a few feet away and lost his lunch at the base of a tree. "Maybe I should have warned him about the disorientation…" Ash wondered, feeling somewhat guilty.

Suma made a pitying sound in her throat. "I'm not sure it would have helped," she muttered. Which was fair, Ash admitted— to teleport to the next town was one thing, but to cross some _4,000 miles_ of land and ocean… that came with side-effects.

" _You_ guys seem fine," Hibiki gurgled over his shoulder, gagging at the last word and turning again to contemplate his just departed meal.

"Well, I've been around the block a few times, son," Ash reminded him. "And Suma," he added, nodding at her, "well, chalk it up to constant exposure." Even so, his belly was doing cartwheels and Suma did seem a little paler, panting like either of them.

"Where are we?" Suma asked, finally surveying her surroundings. Ash couldn't help but smile at the question, at his former pupil's trademark curiosity. He had been careful not to disclose the _precise_ location of the cave they sought, knowing he'd likely have to send them away against their will. But Suma was bright, and she'd never been to this part of Kalos before— the blue-white needles of the conifers in this part of Kalos were a dead give away.

So, to discourage any further questions about their location, he'd answer vaguely and redirect them elsewhere. "We're in southeastern Kalos, in a forest called Everwinter by locals." Suma made a delighted humming sound, apparently agreeing with the nickname for the bright but somber woodland in which they stood. He stifled a grin and continued, "As for our cave, I'd say we're about three miles east of _it_ and…" he trailed off. He had entirely forgotten about…

"And what?" Hibiki pried, returning to join him and Al where they stood (Suma was still entranced by their dusk-washed surroundings). "What else is here?"

Shoot. In hoping to avoid _one_ can of worms he'd gone and stumbled over another… There was no point in _not_ telling them, they were going to have to skirt it's borders to reach the cave. They would have questions, if questions were the _least_ of it. But they weren't going to have time for more than that. So he decided to be direct about this one. "A village," he answered, looking both of them in the face as Suma finally rejoined them. "A pokemon village."

Suma's eyes went wide, "You mean… without _humans_?"

Ash nodded. "Yes."

Excitement brought all the color back to her face. "Can we _visit_ it?" she practically squealed.

He wanted to laugh, only… he smiled sadly. "No."

She began to deflate, "Why not?"

Ash peered into the east following the rivers flow, almost seeing the village in the distance. "It's empty now."

Alarm sharpened Hibiki's expression, and he shuffled where he stood. "This… friend of yours, in the cave? Is he the reason it's empty?"

Ash nodded, sobered further by the memory. "Yes." He could see that Hibiki wanted to ask him more— who _is_ it?, Why are we looking for help from someone who sends wild pokemon _running_?, Are _we_ in danger right now? But Hibiki must have decided to bite his tongue, and for that Ash was gratefully relieved. Their reasonable panic was something he would want to avoid, and not just for their sakes… for his, as well.

Suddenly he was aware that Al was watching him closely. In order for the pokemon to locate their target, Ash had had to divulge the unblemished truth. Up to this point, if he had had any opinions about it, the pokemon had kept them to himself. But somehow Ash sensed that he was about to speak his mind. Hoping Al would keep their dialogue private, Ash nodded toward the east. "Ready to go?" he asked them. "We'd best get a move on if we want to reach the cave before dark." His companions simply nodded, and they began to make their way.

Their walk was exceptionally mild, though they did have to move with a little care because of the rocky nature of the terrain. Ash was glad for that, because it kept his companions attention on their feet instead of the troubled silence. But it wasn't five minutes before Al nudged him psychically, kindly asking for discourse. His penchant for human manner really was a gem. _Go ahead, Al. I'm listening._

 ** _I appreciate you being forthright with me_** **,** he began, likely referring to their conversation about the one they sought. **_While, as a Pokemon, I am uniquely able to appreciate the…_** , he trailed off for a moment, searching for the word. **_…trespass your acquaintance represents, I was denied the experience you have, which might give that understanding deeper meaning— being so young._**

Ash fought the urge to nod, careful not to draw his other friends attention. _I guess I didn't think about that_ , he confessed. _I admit, I was surprised when you didn't object. But I suppose you couldn't really grasp the depth of it then, could you?_

 ** _Not then, no. But I do now,_** Al informed him. **_I could feel it the moment we arrived. Ash, this Pokemon is possessed of a psychic presence unlike anything I have ever felt— and not just in size. It is unnatural. I am… disturbed._**

Ash sighed through his teeth. _I should have thought about that,_ he answered. _I'm sorry_.

 ** _You needn't apologize_** **,** Al returned, trying at reassurance. **_In the distance I can also feel something else… and it disturbs me more_** **.** A few moments of silence as they navigated a particularly cluttered stretch of rocky grass. Then, **_I understand why you feel we must do this_** **.**

Ash chanced a glance at Suma to his right, who was just clearing a few crags with Hibiki's help. She had been a little peaked by their transition, but Ash had thought she seemed to recover well enough. But now… it looked like she was growing more tense by the minute. Suma wasn't psychic outright, at least not yet. Her unique relationship with Al had activated pathways in her neurology that awakened those parts of her mind, and in time she may well develop those abilities. But she _was_ certainly more sensitive now, able to project and feel in ways others couldn't. If Al was as troubled by what he felt as he claimed, Suma might be as well...

By chance her eyes found his, and what he saw there forced his eyes away. Suma was more free-spirited, but… she was, perhaps, brighter than Hibiki. Was it merely discomfort he saw there, or suspicion? Hibiki was a practical man, concerned with _how_ things would work and _whether or not_ they _would_ work at all. But Suma… Well, Suma could see through him a little more, knew the kinks in the cogs that made him tick. She'd be more worried about what it was he might do, would be ready to try and step in the way if she thought him out of bounds. And she would have been kind for it, but… she would also have been naïve.

* * *

They were coming. At long last, both dreaded and eagerly anticipated. A shimmer in the unseen forces that caressed and cajoled all substance into cohesive matter warned of the interruption of stillness and silent space… yes, three miles _that_ way. Their presence snubbed at his meditation, and his senses recoiled as they fled back to the shell that housed them. He fumbled at the sudden jolt, awareness and mind colliding with physical sensation, and felt his breath hiss out sharply in a silent sob of pain. The shock that accompanied that transition may well never leave him…

He was decades old now, almost thirty-five years. He had taught himself to meditate out of sheer necessity, in those first few years of his disconsolate solitude. Allowing his nebulous consciousness to drift from the flesh serving as it's prison, he could have some measure of peace in the serenity of nature. Trees, grass, towering mountains and trickling waters— they were living companions of a sort, though the solace he found in them wasn't company but _rightness_. They had come to be what they were _naturally_ and coexisted _harmoniously_ , forming a living patchwork that was… was _pure_.

He did not need to eat, did not need to sleep— imperatives of his organism that could not have been anticipated by either himself or those who had brought him into being. And by the graces of that mercy, he could allow his mind to sprawl out over the face of the land around him in uninterrupted embrace of the unobtrusiveness of it's existence. It was rare now that the fabric of his mind was disturbed by other living beings— all of the _others_ who had once dwelled beyond the crevasse having long since fled the presence of his _obtrusive_ existence (and he would not fault them for it).

But _these_ … one was an old acquaintance, another possessed of a mind intriguingly adjusted in patterns similar to his own, and the others he did not know. Even so, he had expected them. In those first few years, his exercises in meditation had also awakened his Sight. If one could step back properly they would see that time and reality were in a _relationship,_ much the way that… yes, like a river and it's bed. Others possessed a sense like his, something more of a quaint foresight. But they could only grasp at what twists and turns the river might take… they could not foresee what might _become_ of the river, or of the land, in it's course.

And though they didn't know it, it was the ebb and flow of that river— the marriage of time and reality— that brought them to him. He came, his old acquaintance, with a clandestine plan to challenge that flow and avert the next terrible bend in its course. And it was paramount that he did. His Sight was both a gift and a curse, much like his life on the whole. He was born of the very _wrongness_ they came to divert, that spread across their world like a plague. His Sight told him that the very presence of his kind in this world would always have led to this, and it consoled him (if only a little) to understand that he, that his creation, was not the cause but only a part of it— however stark.

And then they were there, standing before him— well, all but one of them. The one like him… Al, he had chosen for a name… could not bring himself to enter (the presence within so very disturbing). His friend, the human woman, was similarly troubled. He had been too startled by their arrival to note it at first, but now he could see her more properly. Had he the ability, he might have smiled to see her. He had known psychic Pokemon who had adopted human-like pathologies— her friend Al, case in point. But hers was a _human_ mind, stretched and adjusted in ways that reminded him of Pokemon. A hand extended from the rivers opposite bank.

And _oh_ , she blushed to hear it. He could have smiled all the more deeply. As estranged as he felt from his own kind, he had known only one other person to care so deeply for relationship with Pokemon. The texture of her mind, it's subtleties and complexities… she was so different, so…so _beautiful_. But… why was she weeping? Had he offended her? It did not appear that he had… no. There was gratitude, he could see it in her, gratitude for seeing her heart as she had desired to be seen. Her words and perceptions were so _human_ , but… yes, he could see. But he saw also…

Oh!…

He recoiled for a moment, fearful of her— of _their_ — shame and disgust. But…No, it wasn't _either_ of those. Then what? Why… Oh. In ways no human could, this woman… she understood how he saw himself. He was a violation of everything _right_ , an experiment that breached the purity of natural law in two worlds. It had sickened him, _he_ had sickened himself, for decades. But this woman… she was not sick with disgust the way others of his kind had been. She… she _pitied_ him. Had _sympathy_ for him. And, could he have wept, he would have. This… this was the kindest thing anyone had ever offered him. She _understood_ , she could _see_. And it pained her… _she_ was pained for _him!_

…Yes, he knew why they had come. Why _he_ had come. It had been years, decades, since last they met, and then only the once. He had been a boy, then. This _Ash_ , this man of the mountains. But still he knew him. He had been there in his infancy, when his mind had been clouded with the arrogance and bloodthirst of his father. It had been that boy's defiance of hatred which had unclouded his eyes. It had awoken him to what he was, and to the rage that had been driving him. And it was thanks to that boy that he had been able to turn from it, rather be swept up in the _wrongness_ that had birthed him in the first place.

But as much as anyone, Ash should have understood, should have _known_ , that there was likely no way he could have stood against his father… or the thing his father had become. For _he_ was but a perversion, a decadent and corrupted descendant of the ancient one his father had consumed. And, however he had done it, the act of their bonding had altered the warp and weft of it's power. _His own_ power was considerable, but… _it_ was a true scion of that other world, now enhanced by it's unholy marriage with his mad father. The ancient one's powers did not dwarf his per se, but… it would have been quite unlikely that he would have been able to overwhelm it.

And already he had tried! Ash had been _there_ , when he had done combat with another of his ancestors. Their powers had been close, but he had been at the disadvantage. …Try? No _,_ it seemed he did _not_ understand. This wasn't just a question of being outmatched. This was his _father_. Their psyches were inextricably linked, and he did not know if he possessed the ability to defy him, should his father attempt to seize control.

…Sentimental? He did not know this third… Hibiki, he was called. But he understood less than _any_. His connection with his father was not one of _sentiment_ , but biology. …Now they were being almost foolish. Of course he was not _fathered_ by a human being. He was _made_ by the man Giovanni with an express purpose to—… no, if they would let him finish he would explain that. Giovanni had not simply hoped to wield him as a weapon. Giovanni had not made a weapon, but a _suit_. … _Yes_ , he would have worn him like clothes. His very psyche was _marked_ by Giovanni because his body had been intended to house the man's mind.

…No, it would not have been possible. Regardless of the… changes made, he had a being of his own. Giovanni had not made a _suit_ , but had grown a _living thing_. One cannot wear a living thing like clothes, not without forcing it's being out of the body (and his own psyche was much too large for that). Which did not seem to have hindered the success of his father's plans in the river's course. Perhaps if he _had_ succeeded, he would not have discovered a way to draw an ancient one down from above, to usurp it's powers for his own. But he _had_ found a way, and _that_ made their psychological link all the more dangerous.

…Her suggestion was not unreasonable but _was_ , unfortunately, not helpful. Though it warmed him to understand her relationship with the one called Al, to see the possibilities they explored, strategically, all his father or any of his subordinates would have had to do render their advantage moot was bring harm to Ash. The shock of a psychic bond's involuntary breaking could injure him and possibly _kill_ Ash— so, such a ploy would indirectly _favor_ his father rather than neutralize him. …So, he _had_ already thought of that. And it seemed that Ash had not shared his dilemma over this with his companions.

…Yes, there was yet a possibility— one that would exact a terrible price on both Ash and himself. _She_ seemed to grasp his meaning quickly and at once objected. But despite the severity of her objection, he could see that she knew it was their only chance at success. It was likely her understanding of their position that truly escalated the fervor of her protest— though, her compassion for both himself and her mentor deepened his affection for her. Were that all he knew of those who came to ask this of him, he would already have been inclined to agree.

But there was too much at stake, two _worlds_ and more beyond them on the back of the current's mad stampede. Yes, this was the only way. And the time had finally come for him to play his part in the flow of it all. …And he agreed that it was unproductive to argue it further. So, at Ash's suggestion he reached into the mind of the one called Al and struck the memory of their exact location from his mind. Then, taking him, the one called Hibiki and the beautiful Maki Suma in his grasp, he transported them not far from where he saw their companions waiting for them on the outskirts of the desiccated Cerulean City.

And so he was left alone with that man, the only living being with whom he shared a bond he could have called friendship. He wished he had had the chance to know the woman Suma, because she captivated him the way no other being had ever done. She, too, would likely have been one he could have called friend. Ash smiled at that, and agreed that she was one of a kind. But their dialogue had run it's course, and now it was time for them to begin the painful process of joining their beings into one.

What would emerge would be a marriage of both of them, something human and Pokemon. In order for it to succeed, one of their psyches would need to be all but obliterated by the other. And it seemed Ash already knew that he would not be the best choice for the new being's foundation. It was likely the reason that Giovanni emerged with an inhuman madness following _his_ fusion— because no human being could truly _contain_ something so vast in psychic scope, not without being shattered in the process. It was wise, then, that he had suggested sending his friends away. For now, he must drain Giovanni from his being and in turn take Ash into himself. Ash's very _soul_ would have to run through him like the blood in the human's veins.

There would be nothing of the man left, afterwards. Memories, mannerisms, dispositions imprinted upon a new being. Yet the man himself would die this day. But then, so would he. This was the end of _both_ , Ash Ketchum and Mewtwo.


	3. Redemption

**Chapter 3: Redemption**

Hibiki threw up his hands in mute frustration and decided to just plant himself where he stood, dropping to sit cross-legged. There was no reasoning with her when she got like this, and already he'd been slapped _twice_ for trying. Now she was yelling at Al to search his mind for the fifth time against the possibility he could guess at _some_ scrap that might help them find their way back to the cave. And again, he told her with only partially feigned (Hibiki wondered…) regret that he had no way of recalling the information that Mewtwo had taken from him.

"But we were just _there_!" Suma protested with a stomp of her foot. "Look, if you don't remember— use _my_ memory! I remember it just fine!"

A long, slow breath ruffled the whiskers that dangled from the Alakazam's nose. " **I regret to speculate, Suma, that** ** _your_** ** _own_** **memory is… insufficient for the teleportation."**

Suma growled at that. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?" She was getting emotional now, and if he didn't interfere then they may well lose track of time entirely.

"It _means_ ," Hibiki chimed in, "that all we knew about the place was that it was a cave somewhere in Ka's mountain-range."

" _Uh-uh_ ," Suma chided, head bobbing tartly. _Oh, here we go._ She marched over to stand before him. "He _said_ we were in southeast Kalos." And then her brow leapt, and she snapped her fingers as a triumphant grin spread across her face. "Everwinter Wood— _that's_ where he said we were." She cast a sour look at Al who stood frozen several paces behind her. " _That_ enough to teleport us back?"

Al hunched a little, his answer already evident in his body language. " **Again, I regret to inform you** ," he answered meekly, " **I really don't know where such a forest** —"

" _Then find Mewtwo_!" she roared, stomping back to where the Pokemon cowered. Her voice had cracked with strain as she barked the order, and had her back not been to him Hibiki guessed he would have seen tears on her face.

Another slow breath raked Al's mustache, but Hibiki thought it was out of pity rather than frustration. " **I'm so sorry** ," he said simply. _But, he can't do it_ , Hibiki finished for him. He hadn't been able to sense Mewtwo's presence from afar when Ash had asked him to seek it the first time. Ordinarily he would have thought it contrary that Al could be so affected by something up close and then _unable_ to recognize it's distinct… _flavor_ , from afar later. But at this point in his experience he knew well enough that some thing's defied explanation— Mewtwo wasn't just a legendary, he was an unnatural one.

He'd had no idea _what_ Ash had had up his sleeve, but when he'd told them they were meeting a friend he'd _known_ it couldn't have been a human one. And he had _also_ known Mewtwo on sight— Mewtwo had been pretty _loud_ in the first few years of his life, causing a ruckus wherever he went. Folks didn't help, of course, zealous to capture a living, breathing, genetically modified member of the Ancestor Race all for themselves. When they began to get the hint (and when Mewtwo had finally trended more towards cautious avoidance instead of semi-violent protest), all trace of him had disappeared from the media.

Hibiki hadn't known the extent to which Ash had been involved with that ordeal, _still_ didn't know exactly. Ash'd rarely spoken of it when they had traveled together, despite his eagerness to hear. As a boy of twelve he had thought it a 16-year-old's way of pretending at unearned maturity, but as he had grown he had been able to look past his youthful resentments and see reason— his vague childhood memories of reporters standing in a blood-soaked arena on the news had later had him guessing at scenarios he was _thankful_ he hadn't known intimately.

The ill-aspected sight of the now ominous city in the distance captured his thoughts. They were maybe an hour's walk south of Cerulean City, in Kanto. He recognized the dark firs of this part of the region, and guessed they weren't far from their destination— which lay _another_ hour or so in the opposite direction. With a glance over at Suma's back, who now stood motionless save for the occasional hiccup or quiet sob, Hibiki stood. He wasn't yet sensitive to any kind of intrusion on his thoughts, but Al stirred in near unison with him. Perhaps they were simply in silent agreement that to linger here was incredibly unwise, especially so far into the dusking evening.

Whatever the Pokemon's dialogue with his wouldn't-be-trainer, Hibiki was excluded from it— he simply waited as Al tried to reason with her. She went rigid a few times, likely attempting to defend her stubborn refusal to accept their position in the midst of their psychic discourse. But eventually the tension seemed to melt from her shoulders, and when she turned there was such a look in her eyes that even Hibiki had to look away. She moved past him to where the path turned south, and trudged on without a word toward where their comrades waited for them.

* * *

They reached old man Nongmin's wheat farm quickly enough. Cao Nongmin had once been an artisan herbalist and orchardist, supplying most of Cerulean's and Saffron's general and Poke-medical remedies and supplements. The rise of Alpha Corp. in Kanto changed all of that.

Like an invasive species of predator their presence in Kanto practically changed the geography of the entire region— factories and barracks and outlying district offices cropping up everywhere. Men and women were forced into labor or violently recruited into the Military Police, and the rural Kanto became increasingly desolate.

To dam the flooding rate at which Kanto was bleeding, those who weren't forced into compulsory labor or military service were ordered to work on those precious few farmsteads that weren't poisoned by the miasmic pollutions produced by the factories. Nongmin's plantation had been a prime candidate, and little work would have had to be done to convert his orchards and gardens into the wheat farms now desperately needed. But things weren't so simple as that. Wheat was not a crop easily grown in Kanto, its soil not entirely agreeable to its needs. In the span of a few years Cao went from a thriving artisan to a struggling laborer, and the transition had not been easy for him or for his family.

It had thus taken little persuasion to recruit him to the cause of Suma's Resistance. Over the past year they had struggled to gain a decent foothold in Kanto, with it being so heavily occupied by the denizens of Alpha Corp. But when Hibiki had finally been accepted into their ranks (still somewhat begrudgingly, much to his chagrin), he had known immediately that a farmstead was the only place they would have been able to successfully hide themselves—factories and other warehouses controlled by Alpha Corp. had to be kept away, if they wanted unblighted bread for their meals. The farms were monitored, but not guarded.

Slowly but surely those workers who were willing were recruited into their ranks, and those they deemed untrustworthy were transferred to other farmsteads and given reasons that wouldn't bar them from the much needed employment elsewhere. Holes were filled by hiring on already initiated members of the Resistance and soon the wheat farm was a rebel base in disguise. Scouts saw them approaching about twenty minutes away and, having been warned of their imminent arrival, came to greet them.

Neither Suma nor Hibiki knew the two young men, but were glad to see them nonetheless. They drank heartily from the water the men had brought for them, Suma splitting hers with Al, and caught their breath. Then they continued on towards the plantation proper, which they reached about forty minutes after dark. The pale light of the moon, by which he observed the farms, did little to dampen the harsh conditions to his eyes. Even so, they were warmly received by any they passed, especially Suma (who had garnered a real reputation for herself— among both enemies _and_ sympathizers to the Alpha cause).

They were offered a tour of the farms, but both seemed ready to decline the offer in favor of seeking out a little solitude. Their hosts were happy to oblige, and informed them of the locations of both the mess hall and dorms, where cots had been prepared for all three of them. Food had sounded good to Hibiki, but he was suddenly aware of his overwhelmed nerves and chose the cot instead. He tossed and turned for an hour or so, and was then quickly asleep.

He awoke suddenly, several hours later, as Suma stirred in her cot and rose. Tiptoeing past him, she worked her way out of the now fully occupied and snore-muzzled dormitory.

He didn't want to care about it, he _didn't_ — he was much more attracted by the idea of clinging to what little unconsciousness he could because that sounded _really_ appealing right now. Only… he muffled a sigh and eased himself out of his cot, following after her. He found her seated in one of the open-backed wagons that sat fifty feet beyond the portal to the dormitory. To the right, behind him, the farmhouses sprawled on with their tool-sheds and offices and cisterns. The wagon sat at the edge of one of the larger wheat-fields, and he could _just_ make out the top of Suma's head as she looked on away from him.

He chuckled to see her nestled amongst the hay as he turned it's corner. She scowled at him, "What?" He shook his head and climbed up next to her. They weren't really friends, so he didn't want to stir anything up with untoward comments about a frigid Johtonite woman far from warm city living. She probably knew what he was thinking, but must have been too preoccupied to press it out of him so she could distract herself with a petty argument. They studied the star-dusted horizon in silence, and winced at the smoke obscured towers of Cerulean in the distance.

When he could stand it no longer, he chanced a glance over at her on his left. She was silent and, to his surprise, a monument to composure. He hadn't known her before all of it, but he thought he could see well enough the affects the last few years had wrought. She was less than ten years his junior, but lines careworn into her expressive face belied an aging she'd not grown but been plunged into… and he wondered if the past day's events had stretched her further than she could bear. Seeing her now, placid instead of livid, troubled him more than anything else might have.

She must have known he was staring now, and she turned to meet his eyes. There was a question there and he knew she was going to ask, but something told him that the question wasn't for him. "What do you want, Hibiki?"

He sighed, knowing that the question was just _shades_ from ' _why, Hibiki?'._ And he had no intention of explaining his old teacher's actions, when after years _he_ could hardly explain them. Instead, he decided to answer her _spoken_ question for himself. "I don't know, honestly." He thought she believed that, and she seemed surprised by his honesty. So, feeling more comfortable than he had expected, he elaborated, "I signed up with Alpha Corp. because I loved the innovation they promised. I mean, _you're_ from Johto, too— we've _led_ our neighbors in technological advancement for _decades._ I grew up going on field trips to the old Silph Labs, and…" he trailed off.

And to his surprise, a small smile lighted her features. "…and it was just… _in_ you."

A deep sigh rumbled his chest, and he thought he felt years of tension ease in places he hadn't known to be stiff for so long. " _Yes_." He'd never been able to put it that way, but that was it exactly. "I was passionate about it, have been my whole life. It became the basis by which I judged the world around me— 'how is this going to enhance my life, or that of others?' So when they put out ads for the Alpha Device… the implications were _staggering_ , you know. If we could gain access to the electro-magnetic waves driving Pokemons' faculties... who knows what we could have learned. I didn't think there was _anything_ that could have superseded my dedication to innovation."

A low but drawn breath. Was she sympathizing with him? "But something did, didn't it Hibiki? You found and crossed a line you didn't know existed, and it… it changed the way you saw it all. Didn't it?"

He nodded, and could only hum his assent. Did he want to undo what he had done? Maybe. He knew that things would have unfolded this way, whether he had been involved or not. He was not one to borrow guilt, not like his teacher. Not like her. But did he regret his part in it? Yes. But this wasn't about that, or it wasn't the conclusion of it all. This wasn't about simply _undoing_ his wrongs. He shrugged and said, half to himself, "I guess I just couldn't go on the way I had been. And I can't just… just stop, either."

That made her eyes go wide, cluttered with a sudden rush of tears. She looked away from him for a moment, and was clearly doing her best to quell the heaving sobs that wracked her body. But she failed, and he didn't know why but she reached for him, burying her tear-slicked face his shoulder as she wept. And he didn't know why, but he let her.

* * *

"Why?" Hibiki questioned. By the looks on their faces, and their preference to the maps on the table before them rather than his questing gaze, it was an unwelcome question. "Why do _any_ of this?"

The young man before him— one of the scouts that had guided him here, Fanpan was his name— gave him an incredulous look from beneath dark, unkempt brows. "Look, mister," the boy said gruffly, "y'said yerself there's no way we can take them on outright."

The others nodded, equally surprised by his objection. "Stealth is our only chance," another added.

Hibiki shook his head and dry washed his face. "Yes, I said that, but I didn't think you _meant_ …" he trailed off, stifling a groan. "What is this going to achieve?" he drilled, instead.

The same young man listed his responses, counting them on his fingers. "Hamstringin' the surroundin' offices and way-stations'll make any cries for help from the main campus useless; barricadin' the barracks'll keep the off-duty guards and military contained; cutting the power'll _confuse_ the buggers that're left an' give us a smoother way in."

"To do _what?"_ Hibiki demanded.

"To _shut_ 'em _down_ ," the boy insisted. The other's muttered their agreement.

That made Hibiki's face go taut with surprise. "You think the _factory_ is the problem?" he wondered at him. Their expressions were a mixture of incredulity and unwanted shame— they were eager, and that was well enough. But their eagerness seemed to have dulled the sobriety of their judgement. He looked pointedly at Suma, who quickly avoided his eyes. So, she was thinking the same thing. Maybe lacked the heart to say it— no, perhaps it _was_ her heart that restrained her tongue.

And if she wasn't going to say it? He would. His gaze turned back to the young man, who had apparently elected himself the little prince of their rebellion. "You know that won't be enough," Hibiki told him. And _that_ drove the boy's eyes away. Yes, he knew, but perhaps couldn't bring himself to face that truth. But after everything he had seen, everything he had _done_ … Hibiki could not afford the privilege of simpering. And if these young people were going to have a world of their own? They couldn't either. "You know what must be done."

That brought him a hard look from Suma. "Hibiki…" she chided. Her tone feigned rebuke, but it was half-hearted. And while he didn't want to add to the trauma she was already carrying, it would do none of them any good to mince truths now.

He shook his head, mustering all the kindness he could for the words that had to follow. "We're going to have to kill him," he told them. And there it was, the Donphan in the room.

The twenty-something people gathered in the room shuffled uncomfortably, sharing nervous and nauseous glances— well, all but Suma and Hibiki. She held his gaze steadily now. She wasn't angry, and for whatever reason he was thankful for that. But she was sad. He thought he knew why. And the question that seemed to be passing unspoken between the lot of them, the question that moistened her eyes, was finally voiced by a young lady in the back, "But… who would even be able to _do_ that?"

Hibiki nodded, looking from face to face. "You're right about that," he told them. "Even _if_ all of you had Pokemon, I doubt we could overpower Giovanni as he is now."

"Then what are we gonna _do_?" another voice croaked. Heavy sighs passed through them like a draft of chill air.

After a moment, he shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Had you asked me that a day ago, I'd have had no idea what to tell you." _And I was just as deluded as you about it_ , he confessed to himself. Then he nodded, "Thankfully, someone else thought of that long before we did."

Most of their eyes went straight to Suma— unabashed hope and expectation in their faces. If the woman had been made of glass she would have shattered right there. To spare her further strain, he answered their unvoiced expectations. "Not her, no. The man who _taught_ her, taught _me."_ He had half expected that to mean something to them, but when they didn't alight with realization, he glimpsed anew the depths of Suma's grief for the man who had been her hero. _So you didn't tell them_ , he realized. So, he elaborated a little further. "This man has called on the help of one of the rarest Pokemon in the world— 'one-of-a-kind' rare, actually."

"An _elder_ Pokemon?" Fanpan muttered, almost to himself.

Hibiki nodded, "Something like that, yes." And catching Suma's eyes once more, he dared not say more than that. Instead, he chose to bring the discussion to it's close. "This man and his… friend… they are the only one's capable of stopping Giovanni."

"You really think it's possible?" one of them asked, voice sanguine-warm. Color was beginning to return to their faces.

He tried at a smile, because he _did_ — but it didn't mean he was happy about it. "Yeah, I do."

"So… what should _we_ do?" Fanpan asked him.

Hibiki nodded at that, hissing a breath between his teeth as he chewed on the thought. "Actually, I think you should do most of what you already have planned." That drew a sour look from the boy, as he had kind of expected. So he lifted a finger, "But with a few stipulations." With that finger he indicated a point on the map, a warehouse in the southeastern quadrant of the city. "You won't disable this one."

" _What?"_ Fanpan blustered. "That warehouse is maybe five _minutes_ from the main campus— they'll send runners and be back with reinforcements in less than _twenty_!"

And Hibiki raised that pointing finger again, emphatically shaking it at the younger man. " _Exactly_." He indicated another place on the map, the barracks at the side of the main campus that served as the dormitories for the primary regiment of it's forces. "You'll _start_ here, then slip south and begin your work at _this_ office," he struck another point on the map, a resourcing office on the border of the southwestern and southeastern quadrants. "You'll work your way east, hitting each one of the places you pointed out to me along the way. After the first few are hit, they'll begin to see the pattern and—"

"—and they'll go right to the barracks," Fanpan finished for him. Hibiki smiled inwardly as he saw gears turning behind the boys eyes. Fanpan jabbed his own finger at the map, at the military dormitories on the west side of the main campus. "They'll figure heading us off is a waste of time and… and they'll figured _we're_ headed for the headquarters."

Hibiki nodded, stepping back and crossing his arms in a satisfied gesture. "But when they get there to warn the M.P., there'll be no way in or out. So," he said with a shrug, "they'll have to take it upstairs."

Suma's eyes narrowed, and after a moment she completed the train of thought, "You want to draw Giovanni out into an open conflict?"

"He didn't build an army for nothing," Hibiki pointed out to her. "If they can sick the Psycho Squad on us, I doubt we'll see hide or hair of the man. And while you may not like to think of yourself as a _trainer_ ," he stipulated, Suma chewing on the inside of her cheek at the word, "I'm sure you'd agree that we wouldn't be doing ourselves any favors going at the guy on his own turf."

"So, what happens after that?" Fanpan asked. "After we draw him out?"

Hibiki shared a glance with Suma, trying to choose his words carefully. "We fight," he answered. A little of their prior anxiety slithered amongst them again, muscles tensing and fists curling. He thought it went without saying, but the M.P. wouldn't be held back for long. They'd arrive on the scene, if not _sooner_ than later, then eventually. And when they got there… it would be a fight for their lives.

His disposition would normally have bidden him make that plain to them, tell them that god-like tyrant _aside_ … there was a good chance every one of them could lose their lives. But again he caught Suma's eye, and again she must have known his mind… and again he could not bring himself to say it. Instead, he turned on his heel and went out to find solitude among the wheat fields.

* * *

He walked for nearly half an hour before finding an old tree stump between fields. The barns and housing distant behind him, he planted himself on the stump and looked out upon the city to the north. The day was dreary and damp, a mist thickening the air as shades of gray frowned down upon the land. As much as he chided Suma's rebels for their naïveté, he was in this moment a hypocrite.

On their approach from the north, Fanpan and his fellow scout Yiji had told them of the desolate Cerulean City— it was nigh on a smoking ruin now. The suburban communities had withered and become decadent slums, parks had molded and become festering wounds and dumps. The markets of the northwest were largely abandoned by trade and taken up by squatters and vermin, the industrial quadrant in the northeast cut off from the public. And the heart of the city… well, the PokeGym had been converted into what had later become the Alpha Headquarters. Misty's sisters had all married up and moved away, and with Misty lost in the battle on the bridge… there was no one to contest their claim. No one of consequence, anyway.

But he didn't want to think about that right now. Didn't want to think about what he had come here to do, to murder a demi-deific psychopath. Didn't want to recall the faces of that raggedy band of rebels, to know that in a few days' time he might find any one of them pale and lifeless in the rumble of a desiccated city. Didn't want to remember the look in his teacher's eye as he glimpsed him for what he had realized would be the last time. Didn't want Suma's heartbroken sobs to ring in his ears as they did now, as she had mourned her hero and their circumstance and the death that loomed ahead.

In this moment, he was a hypocrite. Because if he could, he would have adopted the naïveté in a heartbeat. He sat there for he didn't know how long, unconcerned with the watch on his wrist and denied the sight of the suns course overhead. Sometime later, a purple flash behind him disturbed the stillness and a presence approached from behind. "Where have _you_ been the past day?" he asked.

" **I needed… some time to myself** ," Al answered after a few moments.

Hibiki nodded, understanding that all too well. "Was Mewtwo's presence that disorienting?"

" **It was disorienting, yes, but that did not give me cause to take up solitude**." Ah. He had needed space from Suma. Al huffed a little at the thought. " **Yes— had I remained she might have continued to…** ** _implore_** **me to send her back.** "

"It would have done her little good," Hibiki agreed. "But that's not why you went off on your own."

" **No** ," Al said simply. After a few more silent moments, Al moved to his right and sat cross-legged on the ground. Hibiki made a face at that— _the fuss he made about sitting in the cave_. That turned Al's head and Hibiki could have sworn he saw a glint of humor in the Pokemon's eye, " **The cave floor was filthy, Hibiki**."

And Hibiki laughed. They sat there silent for a goodly few minutes longer, and then Hibiki picked up the thread Al had laid out. "So, you've come to tell me _why_ you went off on your own?"

" **I've come to ask a favor** ," Al corrected. Hibiki felt his brow leap, and his eyes turned reflexively toward the Pokemon to his right. Al was staring out on the field, free of tension but somehow grim. He didn't have the sensitivity that Suma and Ash possessed, the ability to perceive the expressions natural to Pokemons' dispositions. But he thought Al seemed… troubled. A breathy chuckle rattled the Pokemon's chest. " **We are not so different, you know— Pokemon and humans**."

"No?" Hibiki pried curiously.

" **We, too, can be… stricken, by the prospect of our own deaths**."

Hibiki tsk'd and turned back to look glumly on the field again. "That pessimistic about our chances, are you?"

" **It is not a matter of pessimism** ," Al answered, a tone of weariness to his silent voice, "… **but foresight**."

That turned his head again. "…You saw…?"

Al nodded. " **I did**."

"Did you see…?" Hibiki trailed off.

" **What I saw was confusing and inconclusive** ," he answered the unfinished question. " **My vision revealed nothing to me of our success or failure… only the certainty of my end.** " Hibiki felt his jaw clench. _Oh, Suma, I'm so sorry_. Al sighed, " **That's what I want to talk to you about**."

"What do you mean…?" Hibiki wondered, reluctant.

" **Suma** …" he began ponderously, "… **is much like her teacher. She is moved by the injustices of life, and is so deeply invested that she feels a sense of moral obligation to her world**."

"They handle it differently, though," Hibiki added after a moment. "Ash gets so overcome with grief he practically and literally shuts down… but Suma?" He shook his head to himself. "Suma, she can't see past her determination to change things and charges in whether or not she can _do_ anything." _It's likely to get her killed, one day,_ he noted. Thankfully, Al left that thought alone for the moment.

" **When all is said and done** ," Al went on, leaving Hibiki to infer that they might succeed, " **Suma will have lost… everything**."

Hibiki blinked, uncomfortable. "Doesn't she have… have a family?"

" **Suma does not speak to me of her past** ," Al answered, " **but from what I have incidentally glimpsed of her dreams and stray thoughts… no. She has no one**." Hibiki felt the muscles in his chest tighten as he anticipated the course of Al's request… and it pricked at him inexplicably. " **Even if you** ** _do_** **succeed** ," Al continued, before Hibiki could stop him, " **the world is now a broken thing. She will likely carry that same sense of obligation to it's fallen condition**."

'What do you want _me_ to do about it?" Hibiki returned, defensive. "It's not like I can fix the world all by myself." Al fixed him with a hard stare, most of the indignation he had tried to stir up waning under the Pokemon's sober gaze. _This isn't about that and you know it,_ he was saying. Al nodded, and turned to look back out on the field.

" **If left to her own devices, Suma will become so consumed with the despair of others that it will— indeed— eventually kill her**."

Hibiki guffawed. "Guess you better not _die,_ then, if you're so worried." He knew he was being cold and irrational but for whatever reason he couldn't help himself.

Al shook his head. " **You seem to know what I would ask of you… and yet you can be so derisive. Why**?"

"You've been reading my thoughts all _day_ ," Hibiki muttered. "Figure it out for yourself."

" **I do have** ** _some_** **sense of propriety** ," Al returned. " **The fault is not mine you are so heedless, your thoughts passing like stones through errant fingers**. **Do you know what I would ask, or not**?"

"Yes," Hibiki grunted.

" **And what is your answer**?"

"You want an answer?" Hibiki growled. "I'll give you an answer: _I can't save her._ " He rose to his feet and moved a few paces away. He threw a hand bitterly in the direction of the ruined Cerulean. "Look at that— _look at it_ ," he bellowed. "Ash thinks he's a mess because he can't _save_ everyone? That's like falling short a few steps in the race— _I've run clear in the wrong direction!"_ Anger and pain swelled in his chest and in his head, grievous tears clouding his vision. "I'm _worse_ than a failure, Al— I'm… I'm a _villain_." The words brought him to his knees, and he struck the earth with clenched fists until his knuckles bled, sobbed and heaved until he had to stop to breathe.

Several quiet minutes later, he heard the Pokemon rise from where he was sitting and cross to where he knelt in the midst of dirt, blood, and tears. A hand fell on his shoulder, bidding him look up. So he did. " **I am not asking you to be her savior** ," Al consoled. " **I'm asking you to be her friend**."

" _Why_?" Hibiki demanded, his voice wavering. "Why _me_? I'm not… I'm not even a good _person_."

Oddly, another breathy chuckle rattled Al's shoulders. " **I may not be human, but I am person enough to know this— one's mettle is not found in the number of their good deeds. It is found in what they have** ** _done_** **with their deeds, good or bad**."

Hibiki shook his head and stared into the earth before him. "What does that even _mean_?"

Al removed his hand and sat before him, waiting for him to meet his gaze. When he did, " **It means that, for better or worse, you've accepted responsibility for your actions.** " After a moment, he found the audacity to laugh at Hibiki again. " **For a man who does not 'borrow guilt'** ," he observed humorously, " **you are more like both of them than you realize**."

And he had to laugh at that, too. Ash had been right, all of that emotional crap may as well have been Sinnohan to him. But, with the right pressure, _there_ it was spilling out of him— seemingly out of no where. Hibiki shook his head. "I'm sorry."

" **You shouldn't be** ," Al told him plainly, drawing his eyes back to him. " **Not for your grief. Remorse is good— insofar as it moves us to change. And** ** _that_** **is why I would choose you, why** ** _she_** **respects you**."

"Respects me?" Hibiki echoed, surprised.

" **Yes** ," Al confirmed for him. " **When you stumbled, you picked yourself back up, turned around, and got going**."

And at that, Hibiki realized, simultaneously, why his teacher had been such a source of frustration to the young woman… and why the course of his own life had been so contrary to the man's guidance. It had maddened her, _both_ of them, to watch a man capable of _so much_ consign himself to a prison of his own shame. She had pursued Ash because she refused to let him give up. And _he_ so often struggled to accept Ash as a mentor because he could never allow himself to _be_ like a man so… so _defeated_. So _self-condemned._

He _did_ know what it was Al was asking of him. "If all of this overcomes her," Hibiki observed, "if there _is_ no one to pull her back from the edge… she may well tumble in after him."

Al nodded. " **There is an ocean of grief ahead. She'll need someone to keep her head above water… and I think** ** _you'll_** **need it, too**."

"You're right," Hibiki agreed. After a deep breath, he accepted the Pokemon's dying wish. "I'll do my best, Al."

Al once more put a hand to his shoulder, and something stirred behind his eyes. " **Thank you**."


	4. Dystopia

**Chapter 4: Dystopia**

"Are you ready?" Hibiki pried as Suma seemed to rifle through her thoughts. By Arceus, he knew _he_ wasn't ready.

Their meeting yesterday had left him feeling more taxed than he had at first expected. He'd already spent an hour or so taking stock of the whirlwind of his thoughts and feelings, and then his conversation with Al had done little to help that— actually, it had left him feeling _more_ overwhelmed. He didn't regret his consent to Al's request, was actually grateful to know that, if they survived, he would yet be of some use to someone. But each onward-leading step was the heavier for it, and he had finally lain himself down to sleep the night before with a cocktail of anxieties gnawing at his mind and stomach.

And to top it all off, they hadn't yet heard from Ash… or Mewtwo, or whoever it was that would emerge from their union. Either they had been thinking in unison or his own nervous thoughts had ruffled hers (who could know how sensitive she had become?), because she heaved a flustered sigh and gave him a pleading look. But he could only shake his head, "You know we can't afford to wait."

She stomped her foot, pouting. "But what if he's not ready? What if… what if it didn't _work_?"

Hibiki felt his own frustration stir, but did his best to stifle it. "Giovanni _walked_ away from his transformation, Suma. If… I doubt that his absence has anything to do with whether or not it worked." She wilted a little at his response, and he could see the question in her despite her deflated demeanor. So he shrugged. "Honestly, I'd wager he's just… _assessing_ himself, figuring out how to proceed. Making a plan."

And that restored a little perk to her expression, and she protested with a half-hearted severity. "You and I _both_ know Ash hasn't planned a thing in his life— he's all _impulse_."

Hibiki nodded, "Right." He stepped closer a put a hand on her shoulder, knowing that if he wasn't careful his next words could start another fight. Mustering every ounce of gentleness in himself, he said, "But it's not _Ash_ we're waiting for, Suma." Her eyes met his hard, daring him to mock or jibe, but he knew enough not to take the bait. He chose instead to elaborate, "You were _there_ when we met Mewtwo— it was like the _texture_ of the air was different around him… and the way he communicated with us? He answered our thoughts before we even had a chance to _order_ them."

The fight began to go out of her as he went on, but Hibiki could see the childish part of her somewhere behind her eyes, hurting and indignant. "What about it?" she prompted after a few silent moments.

Hibiki let himself smile, glad she had decided to abandon her _own_ bait for his. "Mewtwo has spent _years_ on his own, with nothing to do but sort himself out. I _think_ that's why he was so in tune with our thoughts— he's pushed his sensitivity to new heights. Right now?" he wondered, squeezing her shoulder to keep her eyes on his, "He might even be trying to get a feel for Giovanni."

She bit her lip, studying the floor of the empty dormitory with worried eyes. She looked back up, "You… you really think so?"

He let his hand fall. "I think," he said, knowing this wasn't about Ash or Mewtwo, "that we have to trust them to do their part… while we do ours." And that would have to be enough, at least to convince her to put her fears to rest. Her eyes swam a little, perhaps amidst the depth of knowing he couldn't give her assurance enough— that there _wasn't_ assurance enough— to silence fear entirely. Then they refocused, and while it wasn't conviction in them there was at least acceptance. And _that_ would have to be enough for _him_.

She nodded, "Well… I guess we should tell the others—"

"I had them start teleporting in small groups an hour ago," he answered, knowing her mind. "By now, forty of them should be reaching the rendezvous point Ash gave Eric and the others. Fanpan and Yiji have probably made good use of the Graveler you guys confiscated and fissured the barracks up real tight. By the time we get there," he concluded, "everything should be in place for us to start shutting down the warehouses and offices on our way to Alpha Corp."

She blinked at him. "Wow, already?"

"I was just chatting with Al before I came to check on you," he said, hiking a thumb towards the door behind them. "Qita said she and her group had just met up with Eric and that the rest weren't far behind. Fanpan was in position and awaiting my order before I came in— which I gave."

She frowned, slumping and seemingly unsure what to say. "You didn't have to do all that," she muttered, "I would have done it… eventually."

He nodded, smiling. "I know you would have. I just…" he trailed off, searching for the words to make his actions seem a little less conspicuous. When he couldn't, he shrugged. "I guess I just… knew this wasn't going to be easy for you. So I took care of it myself while you worked through things."

She didn't answer, but just stood there staring at him. When at last he would have started toward the door, she shifted and then closed the distance between them. Wrapping her arms about his waist, she planted her cheek against his chest. She was short, and slight of frame, even for a Johtonite, but there was strength in her arms as she clung to him— her embrace speaking volumes of gratitude and need. He wasn't a… touchy-feely sort of person, so he had to fight the urge to squirm at the sudden contact. Instead he wrapped his own arms about her shoulders, returning the embrace.

* * *

After a few awkward moments shuffling about their dormitory, making sure they had taken everything they might need and were free of anything they didn't, they made their way out to where Al waited for them. There was nothing to say amongst them now, so none of them spoke. Instead, Hibiki took Suma's hand as they each planted another on Al's shoulder. With a deep breath, he allowed their world to shift like fuzzy images on a bad television. For a few, split moments, everything went black. Then like a scene played in reverse, sight and sound came back into wavy focus and then materialized entirely.

Without comment, they surveyed their surroundings— they were just beyond the edge of the tree-line within the forest at the southwestern foot of the city. As planned, they made their careful way toward the breach in the woodland behind them and, upon finding the general area clear of any passersby, proceeded north toward their rendezvous point. It was an old, foreclosed bicycle shop, one of the satellites to a chain that had gotten it's start in Cerulean proper. It was abandoned now, and sat frowning among the low-lying foothills of the mountains to the west.

It took them fifteen minutes or so to reach it, and there they found Eric overseeing the organization of the individual squads responsible for each strike point. Each attack would be timed several minutes apart, to suggest that a lone band of rebels was working their way northeast toward the Headquarters, but in truth each squad would assail and disarm every warehouse or office, then work their way toward the secondary checkpoint: the now useless and empty PokeCenter. It lay, neglected and disheveled, nestled next to the central campus— so close that it was nigh on foolish and thus well out of mind.

Eric seemed both pleased and troubled at their arrival— pleased because things would now truly get underway, but troubled because he had not yet confirmed the success of Fanpan and Yiji in their efforts to seal off the barracks. Aware of this, the sixty-odd people gathered to challenge the new and terrible world order shuffled about uncomfortably, exchanging nervous whispers. It also didn't help that Hibiki wasn't able to provide them a straight answer as to Ash's whereabouts. He could only tell them that Ash would arrive later, with a terrible and secret weapon in tow. And despite their circumstances, that answer did seem to put most of them at ease.

Ever attentive to detail, Hibiki suggested that Al relay psychically with Fanpan and the others— it would do them little good to march into the city before it's defenses were down. And reasonable as it was, Al was unable to comply. Giovanni's presence was nearly as thick about Cerulean as Mewtwo's had been in the Everwinter woods. While his didn't lay tangibly over the land the way Mewtwo's had, it _did_ cause considerable distortion of the energies in the area. Rather than explain that at greater length, Al simply said that even were he to attempt to communicate with him, it was unlikely they would understand (and vice versa).

And Hibiki didn't like _that_. These were the kind of unexpected hiccups that always had him fumbling. It was then that Suma seemed to right herself at last, the moment needful of her decisiveness. They should proceed as planned, she decided. They would learn nothing waiting here, would accomplish nothing without moving forward. Their whole _plan_ was a gamble, so what if the stakes had been raised a little. And that was true enough. So, with burgeoning determination, the Resistance divided and made it's way into the city.

But nothing he had yet experienced, or been told, could have prepared Hibiki for what he found there. He'd last been here only a little more than a year ago, and had found it to be one of the most colorful places he'd known. Johto gleamed in the daylight with it's glass and steel and gold-bronze towers, a land of industry and technology. But despite Saffron's claim to the title of capital city of it's region, Cerulean was more it's heart than the metropolitan hub ever would be. For a city planted in the inland valleys, it had had the gentle and bright colors of a town that belonged to the sea. It's buildings and houses were of shy pinks and blues and dimpling greens and yellows. Fountains and pools peppered it's properties where water Pokemon and their trainers worked and played and relaxed.

No longer. The paint had rotted and seemed even to mold, while other buildings had become decrepit and still others even crumbled. Noxious fumes rose from the stinking pools throughout the city, now teeming with algaes and bacterium that left them discolored. More disturbing than the desiccated state of the city itself was it's massing emptiness and roaring silence. As Hibiki and Suma, together with four others from their group, proceeded northwest toward their strike point, they passed vacant houses and inoperable places of business. They hadn't expected to see much, but… _nothing_? No one?

Despite the almost curious lack of need for coversion, they chose to communicate among themselves through Al as they moved. When was the last time any of them had _been_ in the city?, Hibiki wondered. Lo, one of the young men with him, said that a few of them had been north almost a month ago to make deliveries from the farms of it's rotating crop. It had been in much a similar state, he told them, when they had been here. None of them had expected to find it so starkly empty. People had mostly kept to themselves, and the streets were only mildly traveled, but it had still been a _city_.

It was more a ruin now, Hibiki decided. But further discussion was put aside when they reached their destination. "Are you ready?" Hibiki asked Suma and the other four. They nodded. The plan was for Al to use Illusory Field, a psychic technique that caused the matter in a certain radius to appear other than it really was. Anyone could look directly at them and would only see empty air, would hear no footfalls, wouldn't even see doors open and close to admit them. This was a smaller facility, a private post office for Alpha Corp. that oversaw shipments into and out of the city. Since it was not necessary to spare any of it's employees to ensure their plan unfolded as expected, they would hypnotize everyone inside and leave them all temporarily catatonic. For the sake of effect they would cut it's power. With a nod of his own, they hunkered down to wait until the appointed time.

* * *

In sixteen groups of fours and fives, the Resistance stalked their marks like rats looking to catch a snake off-guard. It took them about an hour to find their positions, though they had expected to need more in taking care with a so densely populated city. Instead, each group was unnerved to find it seemingly abandoned. But they would not allow themselves to be deterred, not now. So, having taken their positions and found them earlier than expected, they were left with nothing but the anxious wait until their individual times came.

The first group, as planned, burst into their assigned warehouse in the southwest behind a brawny Machoke. Splinters of wood, concrete, and drywall erupted amidst it's bowels and clouded the air of the two story, open-aired repository. But when the air cleared, the little band found their warehouse to be empty of all living souls. This disturbed them more than the silence of the city itself. Alpha Corp. was now the largest corporation in the world, with it's hands in uncounted divisions of the scientific fields and economies and even the military. A warehouse like this one, where valuable raw materials were stored, should have been not only carefully guarded, but as busy as a bee's nest.

Instead, it's only occupants were mountains of crates and steel shipping containers that diced up the floor into a labyrinth of aisles and narrow walkways. The band of four with their two Pokemon felt it unnecessary to search the warehouse— it was as eerily silent as the city outside. They debated amongst themselves as to what they should do for a short time; this was to be the spark for the whole chain of events they had designed. While there were fifteen other such locations to lend urgent voices to credit the assault on Alpha's operations, what if each of _them_ were just as empty as this one? Had they been _expected_? Is that why the city was empty? Wouldn't it have been more prudent to prepare an offensive instead of a retreat? Surely they weren't _that_ great of a threat— the elements of strategy and surprise were the only advantages they really had.

In any case, it was clear there was nothing for them to do here. It would likely have been unproductive for them to investigate any of the other targets, so they elected to move on to the checkpoint, hoping that the others' luck faired better.

It didn't. One by one, each of the fifteen other squads commenced their assaults only to find the warehouses, offices, and dormitories entirely empty. They did not appear abandoned, however. It seemed as though work in the city had been progressing as normal until fairly recently— offices housed stacks of recently dated paperwork, shipping houses were organized with soon to be shipped wares nearer the docking doors, and the dormitories were not emptied of their tenants' possessions. It was as though at some point, for no reason any of them could guess, people had just dropped what they were doing and left— going who knows where.

Each brigade debated and argued amongst themselves, suspecting that the others were likely finding themselves in the same position. It took some longer than others, but eventually they all reached the same conclusion— the only thing they could do now was proceed to the checkpoint. Whether it was rooted in a mounting anxiety or in the desire to preserve _some_ sense of caution, each group found themselves refraining from speaking. But as they made their way to the heart of the city, their paths intersecting in their course, all pretense at coversion was forsaken and those that had yet to reach the PokeCenter filed down a central avenue in a growing mass. But even this was not to be as planned.

The remaining forty-odd members of the Resistance who had not yet reached their checkpoint found those who had standing dumbfounded before it's ruins. This was not a simply dilapidated building, sired by the state of disrepair and strange decay rampant among the rest of the city. No, this building almost seemed to have been intentionally destroyed. It's roofing was not caved but torn and thrown about the area, its walls not crumbled but smashed. And now they did speak, quietly among themselves, wondering what on earth had become of this city.

After some consideration, few of them were surprised to find it it's present condition— Suma and Hibiki had already mentioned how Ash's _friend_ had spoken of the "wrongness" of what Giovanni was doing, how it defiled the laws of nature the way a disease defiled the body. Somehow, his experiments and research had upset the natural order of things— perhaps to the point of increasing the rate at which material decayed. Only the PokeCenter seemed to have suffered violence, and the source of the decay marring the rest of the city could not otherwise be explained.

It was the only plausible answer, many of them agreed. Some argued the idea was outlandish— wouldn't the city's vegetation and plant life have grown out of control, moss and vines climbing and covering it's buildings? Instead, the recreational pools of water were now cesspools, the parks were acrid stains and the trees seemed to have withered entirely. By and large and speculation aside, it was hard to know _what_ to think.

More troubling still was the silence of the Headquarters to their left. It was generally known that businesses had suffered in Cerulean because the main campus required _so many_ to keep it's operations functioning. Even _with_ the city so empty, _this_ was the place that should have been busiest of all. It had not fallen into the clutches of the decay that had eaten at the rest of the city, that was certainly clear. But did seem poorly tended, as well as empty. Smokes and fogs and mists clouded the atmosphere of the city, the pollutions of the operations at it's heart. But only now did they realize that the towering smoke stacks were cool and empty. The city seemed to be devoid of all life entirely.

As they conversed among themselves, their churning fears making them forget the caution that had initially hushed their conversation, they began to wonder if their coming would serve any purpose now. What if the city _had_ been abandoned? Giovanni had plans, it was rumored, to gather the world's legendary Pokemon to use as weapons of mass destruction… what if he was now bringing these plans to head? What if they had missed their chance to quell this storm before it had mustered it's full force? How could they stand against an army of legendary Pokemon, led by a near god-like being?

Maybe now, the only thing they could do, the only hope they had, was to flee. To hide. Some among them would not even _entertain_ the idea, but others were becoming quickly irrational with fear. Seeing this, a few among them suggested that they retreat— their staying here would do them little good now, especially if Giovanni had indeed abandoned the city. Worse, what if they fell pray to the _wrongness_ that plagued the city? Their leaders— Suma, Hibiki, and respected few among the Resistance and Ash's refugee— advised that they not be hasty. They did not know if Giovanni had fled or not. It was one thing if he had, but if he was sequestered somewhere in that building, unguarded by the masses and his military? They would be fools to leave now. Desecration or no, almost _all_ of the obstacles to their goal had for whatever reason been removed. If they were to go back now, it would be wise for them to _assure_ themselves that their coming had indeed been a waste.

But many of them were beyond the reach of reason or wisdom now. Either their swelling nerves or the unnatural atmosphere had robbed them of their wits. Without explanation or response to their fellows' objections, nearly twenty of them forsook the scene. Those that refused to desert were left huddled in the city's central square, studying the hulking building before them whose shadows had eaten at everything around it like a cancer.

After several silent minutes, some of them began to sympathize with their departed friends. But knowing the truth of their leaders words, they would not join them until they were sure that they had come for nothing. Who, then, would go? Who would carry out the search? Surely not all of them, they knew nothing of the compound and while most possessed the dignity to remain they did not possess the courage to enter in. Hibiki, they recalled. He had been _one_ of them, before joining the cause of the Resistance, had worked in this very facility. If anyone was fit, was responsible to such a thing, it should be him.

They surrounded the man and, gripping his sleeves with white knuckles, herded him west toward the main entrance. Suma chased after them, screaming her protest with Al stumbling behind. Upon reaching the main entrance they thrust him upon the steps that led to the main entrance, their voices curdled and faces twisted with angry fear. So much for dignity.

* * *

Hibiki sighed bitterly. Almost as soon as he had shouted the words over the din of panic around him, he had known they would be clamoring for _him_ to carry them out. And he wouldn't fault them for it. Their mob-like behavior was another matter, but… these were a people crazed by a frightful world. He would achieve little in trying to rebuke them now. So, he chose not to protest. Instead, he called out to the forty-or-so who stood before him, "I will go, but it would be unwise for me to go alone."

At his words, the flustered crowd fell silent. At just the moment when he would have repeated himself, the strangest sound bubbled amidst the crowd. Laughter. Not even laughter, more like an ill-minded giggling. A figure pushed it's way through the crowd and suddenly Fanpan stood at it's head before him. The boy smirked haughtily. "None of these people are going to go with you in there," he said snickering.

Hibiki kept his voice low, but let his disgust shine through. "Fanpan, _what…_ Don't make a fool of yourself now."

The boy shrugged, unheeding. "Going in there is a _waste_ of time."

Hibiki gritted his teeth. "If you feel that way, why didn't you leave with the _rest_ of them?"

"And miss that look on your face?" the boy grinned, incredulous. "Never."

Something wasn't right, and his friends behind him knew it. They shuffled nervously as he eyed them, almost the way a starved man stares longingly at a butcher's shop. Hibiki tried to recapture his attention, "Fanpan?" The boy turned again, that same strange look in his eye. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but…" he trailed off as the boy rolled his eyes. "Look, if you don't want to go in, don't go in. Leave, if that's what you want. But don't—"

" _Leave_?" Fanpan repeated, a sickening crack in his voice. "Oh _my_ , no. Don't you know I'm _right_ where I want to be?" At that, the boy thrust his arm out behind him, as if urging someone among the crowd to step forward. And someone did come forward, but not of their own volition. As if pulled by some unseen force, Yiji was ripped from among the crowd— barreling through them at inhuman speed. In a matter of moments, Fanpan held his own friend by the neck beside him. Those in the crowd who had been knocked from their feet tried to rise while Hibiki blinked, hoping his vision would clear. It didn't.

Fanpan's eyes did not stray from his, despite the frantic cries and urgent writhing of the man at whose neck he clutched. Then, as though he possessed some incomprehensible strength, he lifted Yiji from the ground and threw him over and past Hibiki, to crash through the dim windows of the building beyond. Many in the crowd screamed, and a startled cry raked at Hibiki's throat as he ducked involuntarily to watch the younger man soar overhead. Suddenly, the earth groaned and rumbled beneath him, and Hibiki was not able to keep his balance. He tumbled down the stairs to land at Fanpan's feet.

As he looked up, he saw the boy's feet leave the ground. He rolled onto his back as the haggard figure ascended skyward, halting some several hundred feet overhead. Now, he was laughing outright— a maniacal sound. As he thrust out his left hand the earth beneath them rumbled again, and the quake was followed by an ear shattering explosion. The walls and roofing of the barracks at the west end of the compound exploded outward, and the debris was cast so far that it fell inaudibly in the distance of all directions at once.

Then, pouring from within the remains of the structure to teem around them on all sides, was a horde of vastly hideous creatures. They were were mostly humanoid and bipedal, with some quadrupedal things among them. They might once have been human, Hibiki thought. Not anymore. Now he knew where the people of Cerulean had gone, or whatever was left of them— they had been here the whole time. Green and orange wings, red-veined and bulging muscle, violet tufts of hair that sprang from the tops of necks to travel the lengths of spines: it was as though the people of Cerulean had been disassembled and reassembled with various Pokemon parts.

An army of mutant, hybrid PokePeople. They weren't an army of legendary Pokemon, but… maybe they would be enough to subdue such an army. Hibiki did not doubt they would be enough to crush every last unspoiled person in the city. And now as he had expected, but in ways his worst nightmares could never have foretold, they would indeed fight… or die.


	5. Last Stand

**Chapter 5: Last Stand**

Hell. All around him, hell was risen from it's ice-and-fire depths to clutch at and torment him. Because of the copious and overwhelming level of stimuli around him, he found a part of himself disassociated from his own participation in the events unfolding in Cerulean's central square. Hideous, guttural roars and screeches and the horrified and indignant cries of his own comrades pierced his throbbing head, swollen and aching because of the sheer number of times he'd stumbled and fallen over the fleeing or the dead— Pokemon, human, and monster alike. It had begun to rain at some point, though the peals of thunder and the great hammering drone of the rain did nothing to dull the feverous clamor. Only minutes had elapsed since it began, but every so often he found himself paralyzed with exhaustion and could only slump where he stood, forced to take in the chaos that surrounded him. And it was only when he did that he noticed the demonic laughter that bubbled overhead, in sickening counterpoint with the combat and the rain.

He'd seen fighting before, and not just the etiquette-dictated exhilaration of exhibitions— he'd had his share of brushes with death, fighting this or that terror group. Trainers who counted themselves hardened after years of friendly battles could never understand how staring down the loaded barrel of a gun, or the frothing maw of criminal's Pokemon, could change you. It etched the lines into your forehead just a little deeper, wilted your smile just a little, delayed your laughter a moment longer. Those were conflicts that kept a man up at night, that haunted his dreams, and afflicted his neurology with unhealthy patterns of anxiety and paranoia. And it was all puddles compared with the ocean in which he was now adrift.

He'd had no Pokemon to protect him when the fighting had started, but thankfully he'd found a length of iron or steel bar— probably fallen from the rubble of the exploded barracks as it soared overhead— and had picked it up to wield it as a make-shift broadsword. Already it had saved his life four or five times, broken a few arms and mercilessly crushed a few skulls. Only a moment ago he'd had to run one of the creatures through, and it had bitten at his shoulder as he had closed the distance between them. He stood over it now, panting with the exertion and the shock of the injury. The red that clouded his vision was probably from the blood— either the monster's or his own.

There it was again, that insane laughter. He looked up at the figure belonging to the young man Fanpan, still hovering strangely several hundred feet above them. He knew now that it wasn't really Fanpan, that the young man he'd met back on the farms and whoever this crazed stranger was had nothing in common apart from their appearance. Probably it was Giovanni, having either disguised himself as the young rebel or possessed his body from afar. No human could do what Fanpan now did, anyway. He didn't have time to consider _how_ any of it was possible, because charging for him now was another of the monsters— a lumbering, gargantuan thing that was half human, half Feraligatr (bottom to top, respectively).

Just as the creature was close enough to complete the swipe of it's clawed hand, he rolled away and forward to the right. Coming up, he struck at it's hip with a two-arm'd swing. Howling, it stumbled at the blow and lost it's balance as it failed to control it's momentum. Hibiki didn't miss his chance, turning and lunging at it as it attempted turn and snarl at it's attacker. Just as it's eyes met his, it's jaw lowering to shriek cruelly at him, it's neck snapped against the impact of another two-handed swing of his weapon. It's only protest was a muted grunt, and then it dropped soundlessly.

He had no time to celebrate his small victory, because just as he completed the killing blow something crashed into him on his right and sent him sprawling. The iron bar fell from his hands and the air was crushed from his lungs. As he rolled onto his back, gasping for breath, he saw the fuming mutant Tauros stamping at the ground. It looked like a centaur from the old legends, though lacking in any texture of nobility. Four, hoofed legs and the abdomen of a horse or bull that bore the torso of a man— complete with burly, muscular human arms and a two-horned head. Baying, it thundered toward him, charging to trample him to pulp.

Then a blast of invisible energy from somewhere behind his back roared in his ears and struck the creature full-bodied. Bellowing, it careened away to collide with a ruined building several hundred yards away. A hand gripped Hibiki's arm and lifted him to his feet— Suma, with Al at her side. She gave him a tearful smile, and he did his very best to return it, to thank her for saving his life. Then, for a moment, the two of them studied the battle that surrounded them.

It would be over shortly, and not in their favor. Of the forty or so that had remained, at least ten had tried to flee almost immediately (only to be slain), and fifteen or so more were already murdered with them. Less than twenty of their comrades were left alive, battling furiously beside their Pokemon and another falling almost each minute. Hibiki knew now that fighting on was fruitless, insofar as their purposes were concerned. But he intended to fight on anyway— that some measure of his courage might preserve his dignity into his final moments. And because he'd made a promise, a promise to fight the despair that threatened to crush a young woman's heart.

She was soaked through now, from rain and sweat and maybe even a little blood. He'd found her to be an incredibly difficult person, all heart and fire and difficult to reason or work with. But somehow it pained him to see her so blanched now. So he summoned all the strength he had left and set his face like flint. And as she saw the determination in his eyes, her smile widened in gratitude as tears freely flowed. But they had no time to turn back to the battle. A great force from overhead fell heavily on them, driving them to their knees. And not just the three of _them_ , but every one of their companions as well. It appeared that the fiendish general of this hellish army had had his fill of amusement at last.

Hibiki looked up as the demented figure touched down before him and Suma. "Well, now, that was fun, wasn't it?" he mused, looking from face to face. The forces of the very energies at his control had tattered his thin shirt, and his bare chest heaved with exhilaration. "I must say, though," he added, looking at Hibiki with a discomforting sense of nonchalance, "I'm surprised our mutual friend is taking so long in getting here." He stroked thoughtfully at his chin as his wild and long black hair whipped in the wind, in spite of the rain that drenched it. "I'd have thought a little senseless slaughter would have drawn him out…"

"You did _all of this_ ," Hibiki spat, "just to get Ash's _attention_?"

Surprised, the young man appraised him. "Oh, yes. Tell me, you didn't think all of this was for _you,_ did you? You're a bright and vital young man, Hibiki, but do manage your pride, hm?"

Suma glared. "You're a _monster_ —"

Her words were cut short as Fanpan struck her face with a backhanded swipe. " _Be silent_ , wretched girl."

"Don't _touch_ her!" Hibiki roared.

Fanpan chuckled. "No? My, my, Hibiki, look at you." Then his eyes lit up, and a smiled played his features. "Actually, that's quite an idea, isn't it?" With that same sense of nonchalance, he held out his right hand, gazing adoringly at his palm. The air sizzled around it, pink and blue sparks of electric energy dancing across his arm. Then, with a brilliant flash, a slender blade of translucent pink-blue energy formed there, seeming to emerge from his knuckles. He nodded at Hibiki deferentially, "A sword is an elegant weapon, Hibiki— a relic from another time. Let's see if this gets his attention."

Suddenly he threw his arm overhead and wildly heaved it downward. Hibiki's eyes went wide as he anticipated with gut-crushing terror it's impact on Suma's head. And just as suddenly, a burst of pink energy, seemingly from nowhere, struck at his arcing sword and knocked him back a few paces. A few more blitzed toward him, and he gleefully struck them aside as he danced backward up the stairs. Another flash of pink-white energy as a boy appeared before them, facing the cackling villain. Plain blue jeans, bare feet, and a white t-shirt. A crop of messy, cowlick'd hair. He was perhaps no older than ten or eleven years, and despite his being out of place Hibiki recognized him at once without even seeing his face.

It was Ash, but not the middle-aged man they'd left behind in the caves of Ka. It was the boy who so many decades ago had embarked on his first journey, an image even Hibiki hadn't known— when they'd met, Ash had already been pushing seventeen years. And while it was a shock at first it came as no surprise that, just as it was with Fanpan or Giovanni or whoever it was, this was not really Ash standing before him. It was the child of an unearthly union between human and Pokemon. The force of it's presence was immense, but somehow not sickening in the way Giovanni's was.

Beyond where the boy stood, Fanpan frowned. "You're late."

"I was preoccupied," the boy answered, disinterested with the other's distemper.

"Well, I certainly hope whatever demanded so much of your attention was worth the time," Fanpan jibed with a wave of his arm. "It's quite out of character for you to let innocent lives be so wasted."

"Do not make light of this," Ash scolded, only somewhat stern. "Your mind may be quite warped but you look no less foolish."

 _"Foolish_?" Fanpan snickered. "You send your little ragtag band of wanna-be heroes to 'storm the castle' and _die_ at my feet while you twiddle your thumbs in a _cave_ — and you call me _foolish_?"

Ash ignored the taunt. "I see you've had to change hosts already," he observed after a silent moment.

Fanpan shrugged, sighing. "Yes, well, apparently the mortal frame doesn't withstand these forces as well as I had hoped."

Ash shook his head. "I'm a little surprised you didn't anticipate that, considering how much time you've poured into the plans that led to all this."

Fanpan guffawed. "And what about _you_ , hypocrite? You stand before me an _infant_."

Ash sighed, then drew in a deep breath. A steady glow emanated from his body, white-pink like the blasts of energy he had hurled at Fanpan earlier. It increased in intensity until Hibiki had to shut his eyes against it. Then it was suddenly gone, and when Hibiki opened them a new figure stood before him. Ash, or whoever this new person was, still stood with his back to he and Suma. But it was similar to the things Giovanni had made of the citizens of Cerulean— again, without the ghastly aspect.

Human feet supported strong, muscular legs. A long, thick tail sprang from his back, an homage to the one that had belonged to Mewtwo— however, this tail was a pale pink unlike the Pokemon's deep violet. Strong human arms ending in powerful human hands were crossed against his muscled chest, and an almost human head sat squarely atop broad shoulders. There was still a crop of black and spikey hair crowning him, and though Hibiki could not see his face he thought it was quite likely that it was more human in appearance as well. In all, it's flesh was a pale pink, like that of the ancestor Pokemon from which Mewtwo had been born. This new being sizzled with the energy it contained.

Fanpan whistled. "You cut quite the figure. Tell me, why the facade?"

Ash, or Mewtwo?, tsk'd. "You took a Pokemon's power into a human body because the man, Giovanni, was obsessed by power and control— you did it for yourself." That earned him a distasteful grunt from Fanpan. "I cloaked myself with the human boy's image because I wanted to remember a time before either he or Mewtwo suffered at your hand. Perhaps it was just as selfish, but their pain is now my pain after all."

"Which are you, then?" Fanpan demanded, mocking. "The man or the monster I made in a test tube?"

Again, he did not take the bait. "If you're asking whom absorbed whom, then it was Mewtwo who took the man into himself. But _I_ am neither of them, the result of their combination. More Pokemon than human, to be sure, but—"

"Oh, don't _prattle_ at me," Fanpan snarled. "I don't _care_ who or what you are, I care only for the diversion of my amusement before getting on with business— and you've wasted _enough_ of my time with this little _charade_ of a 'resistance'. Now _fight_ me."

Ash shook his head. "I have no intention of indulging you."

Fanpan sighed, and teleported from where he stood to loom over Suma again. Lifting his bladed right arm over her, he prepared for another killing blow. But Ash teleported in turn, standing behind them, and with a precise blast of telekinetic energy slammed Fanpan into the distant sky. And then he too was suddenly in the sky and their battle commenced in earnest. Hibiki was not able to follow it, but could only take in the panorama of the city before him that served as their arena. In a span of seconds they occupied dozens of different places in the sky— Fanpan thrusting his blade into suddenly empty space as, from the distance, Ash peppered an again suddenly empty space with volleys of pink-white energy.

To and fro their battle danced for several minutes, neither able to land a successful strike on the other. At one point, a supremely vehement swipe of Fanpan's violet-pink blade sent an airplane-sized 'v' of energy cutting through the sky. Ash dematerialized the moment it would have made contact, freeing it to cleave the city below with terrible effect. Buildings toppled and the earth shook violently with the blow. Fanpan had little time to gloat over his handiwork, because a similarly scaled orb of pink-white energy careened toward him from behind. He turned to thrust his blade into it, inching back against the impact. Hibiki thought could hear him groan against the strain as it pressed downward, it's glaring light almost blinding him and the others below, and thought it was apparently more powerful than Fanpan had expected. With a shriek of effort he thrust out his left hand and pierced the star-like ball of energy with a laser-bolt of power, and it exploded in effervescent light.

The crowd below screamed benignly against the deafening might of the sound-wave and shut their eyes against it's blinding, scourging gleam. When at last Hibiki was able to see again, the two beings had resumed their combat as it had been before— dusting the sky with their images and peppering the earth below with blasts of energy from blade and open palm. It seemed to go on for hours, but Hibiki thought that not even ten minutes had passed them by. Just when he began to wonder how long they could keep going as they were, Fanpan appeared on stairs before them. With a snap of his fingers, his features twisted in the cruelest smirk, the army of mutant creatures stirred and charged the dozen or so humans cowering before them.

Their attack on the humans would not be completed, as the Ash-Mewtwo hybrid appeared in their midst and halted monsters with a white, psychic barrier. The creatures that came into contact with the barrier recoiled as it shocked them, and the lot of them snarled in contempt. Fanpan cried out in rage. "You can't hold that barrier _and_ stop me from crushing every one of your _pathetic_ little friends with a _thought_."

Ash sighed, and with a flick of his wrist something snapped in Hibiki's head. It didn't hurt, but it certainly felt awkward. Somehow he was thankful that Ash had just done whatever it was he had done, because a split second later Fanpan was snapping his fingers and shrieking with outrage. "What did you _do_?" he demanded.

"I wiped the energies inherent to Pokemon-kind from their beings— well, all but Ms. Maki. I sheltered her a little more personally," he answered. "Their physiology will not respond to your psychic assaults any longer. You could say I've _sanitized_ them."

Fanpan growled. "You can't _sanitize_ them from me smashing them with a _building_!" he squealed. " _Or_ from the claws of my children." He snapped his fingers again and the barrier popped as easily as a balloon. Again, the horde charged the humans before them. With a groan of effort, Ash cried out and swept his hands the length of the ring charging him and the humans he sheltered. And for no reason Hibiki could see, the ranks of the army surrounding him dropped suddenly— dead. Fanpan stomped his feet vainly. "What did you _do_?" he repeated, with increasing madness.

" ** _While you've trickled away your time_** ," Ash bellowed, psychically and physically, cowing crowd and villain, "learning to harness the powers inherent to Pokemon kind, I've spent two lifetimes closely observing, _sifting_ through the life-force of this world. Ash sought not to master Pokemon for their power, but simply to understand them as fellow, living beings. And Mewtwo," he added, "has done the same with the natural world— embracing it's shape and contour with his very soul."

"Ugh!" Fanpan groaned. "What does that even _mean_?"

"It _means_ ," Ash answered, "that you've been arrogant and shortsighted to assume that the forces belonging to Pokemon's ancestral world are the _only_ forces at work in _this_ one." Fanpan was silent, maybe trying to piece together what that meant for himself. The strangely disassociated part of Hibiki wondered himself at what the Pokemon-human hybrid was talking about. "The reason I took so long in getting here," Ash went on, "is because I was working to harness the forces derivative of _their_ ancestral world. To answer your question: what I did?, was reach into the human parts of your… creations, and separate them from the parts belonging to Pokemon. Because their very lives depended on the mutant and unholy connection between the two, the end result was their death."

"Hmph," Fanpan grunted, crossly amused. "You just butchered over a hundred living things— you're no better than I am."

"They were dead the moment you spawned them," Ash answered.

"And what of us, hm?" Fanpan retorted. "What of _me_? I'd wager you can't do to me what you've done to them— the moment you reach out for me I'll _smother_ you with every ounce of my power. And then?," he prompted, "then, I'll _torture_ and _kill_ every last human in this world— starting with these _pitiful cretins_."

Ash shook his head, disdainful. "No, I can't do it to you," he confessed. "Our life forces, both of us, are too great to be so easily deconstructed. But I _can_ take my own in my hands," he amended, "and use it as a weapon."

Fanpan was again silent for a moment. Then he asked, "How?"

"Just like the energy that powers your blade," Ash explained, "or the blasts I throw, I can take up my life-force as a form of energy and fire it like a gun. You'll be unable to deflect it because it is inherently opposite to the power you worship. And as long as it is intact, I can control it's course— you could waste hours dodging and avoiding, eventually you _will_ falter and it _will_ collide with the human part of your being. It will rupture the already sensitive bond between your two halves, and though the impact would kill _me_ , it would kill _you_ , too."

More silence from Fanpan. It seemed to Hibiki that the shield of his arrogance was faltering against what he heard, though he feigned to preserve it. Somehow, though, Hibiki thought the villain sensed the truth of Ash's words. And he didn't know why, hardly understood _any_ of what he was hearing, but he knew them to be true, too. Then Fanpan shifted, and said simply, "Join me."

Beside him, Ash blinked at the suggestion. "What?"

"Join me," Fanpan repeated. "I've spent decades working to master Pokemons' powers because I don't simply want to _control_ the forces of their ancestral world," Fanpan gushed, "I want to _go_ there." Ash seemed shocked by what he heard, and now Hibiki was entirely lost. "Don't you _understand_? In _this_ world," Fanpan went on, urging, "our connection with the forces that _drive_ Pokemon-life are muted, dulled. While even _here_ we are like _gods,_ could you _imagine_ what we might be capable of on the next plane of reality? Or in the one beyond _that_?"

Ash crossed his arms, understanding dawning on his face. "Your plan to bend our greater kin to your will," Ash pondered, "it wasn't just to ensure your control over this world. You don't know what you'll _find_ when you get to the next one."

"Actually, it goes a little deeper than that," Fanpan sighed. "Despite my considerable efforts, opening a rift to the next dimension isn't simply a matter of power. For reasons I can't yet understand, a Mew can traverse the barriers between realms unharmed. But at the moment I took it into my being, it's immunity was lost. The result? A toll must be paid for the travel."

Ash's arms uncrossed, in shock. "You'd expend _their_ lives as payment for your… _exotic vacation_?"

Fanpan tsk'd. "I should have known your vision would be so limited. Look, if it makes you feel any better," Fanpan offered dryly, "join me— I'd wager we can figure out a way up without having to waste a single life."

"You're as psychic as I am," Ash responded. "You know just as well as I do that I could never do what you ask."

"Then by all means," Fanpan retorted, throwing up his hands, "let's resume our little dance with death. But, sooner or later, _one_ or _both_ of us will slip up and one or the other or _both_ will be _dead_ — a monumental waste of _everyone's_ time." Ash didn't stir, and when he was unresponsive, Fanpan demanded, "Well? What'll it be, hm?"

Ash was silent for longer than Hibiki found bearable. As much as Hibiki loathed their position, he knew what Ash— the _man_ — would likely have chosen: he would have thrown his own life to the wind in a moment to lay down the monster that stood before them. But as for _Mewtwo_ … Hibiki didn't know the Pokemon as well as he did the man. Were his two halves locked in bitter argument over their dilemma? Was this third being so estranged from his human counterpart that he would truly consider—

"Very well," Ash said suddenly. Hibiki felt his heart lurch at the words, and Fanpan grinned to hear them. Before anyone could react, Al appeared behind where Fanpan stood upon the stairs leading to the compound's main entrance. Hibiki blinked. Then understanding seized him. _Wait!,_ he cried silently, reaching involuntarily where the Pokemon stood. But Al did not heed him. Hibiki thought he saw a smile form on the Pokemon's face as he considered both Suma and the man who swore to protect her. Then his three-fingered hands were splayed out before his chest, and a thunderous roar of energy opened up some kind of… rift in his chest.

The sound of wind tearing into a hole in the fabric of reality turned Fanpan's head, but it was too late for him to do anything. The Mewtwo-Ash hybrid cast out his hand and, with a burst of telekinetic energy, pushed Fanpan into the opened rift. The moment he disappeared inside it, a flash of purple-white energy blinded them all. And as he struggled against having been yet again blinded, Hibiki realized that where once an Alakazam, a demon, and some kind of inter-dimensional rift had stood… there was now nothing. Giovanni was gone.


	6. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A knock at the door tore Suma from her reading, and she frowned. She had known he was on his way, had been looking forward to it, but despite herself always loathed being taken from a good book. With a sigh she scooped up her bookmark from the table beside her comfortable love-seat and, sealing it between the pages of her book, jumped out of the chair. She crossed her small living room toward the hall way that led to the door. Catching sight of the mirror that hung over the bureau, she stopped to check her appearance.

Her favorite yellow, sleeveless blouse and blue jeans fit her a little more loosely now, but still brought out the color of her skin. Her hair had grown out in the last few months, no longer cropped in the stylish fashion she had worn over the past year or so. She found that she didn't miss it, and smiled at it's lustrous, black sheen. She ran her fingers through it, gathering it to hang against her chest past her left shoulder. She dimpled into the mirror, and chided herself for blushing. "Oh, stop," she scolded, grinning girlishly.

Turning, she approached the door as the knocking outside resumed. "I'm _coming_!" she assured, laughing.

Hibiki stood outside, one eyebrow raised. "Took you long enough— what, were you napping again?"

"I was _reading_ ," she insisted, with a stomp of her foot.

Hibiki snickered, "You could have fooled me. Do you _know_ how many conversations on the trains ended with you passing out with no warning?" She feigned pouting and stuck her tongue out at him. And _that_ made him grin. He thrust out his hand, holding up a plastic bag. "Here."

She took it, examining it's contents. " _Ooo_ — you made _rice balls_?"

"I _tried_ ," he corrected, moving past her to come into her apartment. Removing his coat, he hung it on the coat rack as she shut the door behind him. "I'm not much of a cook, remember?" he reminded, slipping out of his shoes and into the uwabaki she reserved for guests.

"I'm sure you did fine," she encouraged. He smiled to hear it and she felt her face heat, so she turned and made her way back into the living room. Placing the bag down on the table, she opened his plastic container. If he was being modest that was one thing, but if not she might give him a good whack later. Their shape was pristine, and they smelled _incredible_. Having at last returned home after months of traveling, she found herself falling more and more in love with the tastes of Johto. She gestured to one of the chairs at her dining table— pressed up against the divide that separated her living room from the kitchenette. Hibiki sat while she went in and fetched the dishes and drinks.

Moments later she returned with two plates, two sets of chopsticks, and dishes with soy sauce and wasabi. Hibiki began setting the table while she returned to the kitchen for the glasses and the sake she had bought just for this occasion— one she had anticipated with a curious excitement… and a little sadness.

Once everything was set, she took the seat next to him and they both stared at the small meal before them. At last she had to ask, "Did he say when…?"

Hibiki nodded, checking his watch. "It should be any minute now."

And, as if his ears had been itching, a pink-white flash behind them announced his arrival: Yamamoto. That is what he had taken to calling himself. He said that Ash had adopted the moniker because of his love for nature, and coupled with Mewtwo's own mountain shelter… well, it did make sense. Neither she nor Hibiki beside her turned at his arrival, but let him decide what to do with himself. She didn't hate him, _couldn't_ hate him— she had loved Ash as a _father_ , and had felt for Mewtwo as a child so brutally wronged by the world that had created it. Yamamoto seemed to wish to honor the memories of those from whom he was sired, and she was _grateful_ for that,… but… there were too many painful memories now, so much that his presence was hard for her.

She wondered if Hibiki felt the same, as he tensed when Yamamoto stirred and took the chair at the end of the table, to Hibiki's left. He studied them both, his alien face alarmingly human. His eyes bore no pupils, and his nose was a little snubbed at the end, but his face was a perfect combination of features belonging to the man Ash and to the Pokemon Mewtwo. When neither of them acknowledged him, he spoke at last, "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

It was Hibiki who answered, and she was relieved for it. "You saved our lives… _everyone's_ lives. It's really the least we could do."

Yamamoto was silent for another moment, then asked, "How fare the other regions?"

"Sinnoh is probably in the best condition," Hibiki answered after a few moments. "Giovanni was apparently mostly disinterested with it, trying only marginally to gain a foothold there. Unova is just behind it in recovery, and Johto is making good progress. We've had some rebuilding to do— still have some, to be sure— but as you can see… things are returning to some sense of normalcy much quicker than we had expected." And then he shook his head and frowned. "Kanto, however…," he said trailing off.

At last Suma spoke. "We're not sure Kanto will _ever_ really recover," she said. "The necrosis that started in Cerulean hasn't advanced any further than it had already reached, but it wasn't the only city to suffer. Saffron and Celadon are in almost as bad of shape, and we still don't know if the more rural areas will ever be as fruitful as they once were."

Yamamoto nodded. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry," he said. "I wish none of this… I wish I could have…" but he didn't complete the thought.

Suma felt her hands clench to fists at the unspoken words, her anger and distress stirred. Gritting her teeth, she did her best to put it aside. She looked Yamamoto in the face now, and asked what was on her mind, "Where _were_ you? After you… _killed_ Giovanni, or _whatever_ you did, you just… _disappeared_. We had no idea what to do, A—…" she had to stop herself. Swallowing the bulge in her throat, she finished her thoughts, "We were left to pick up the pieces all by ourselves. You wish you could have helped? You could have stuck around."

Yamamoto nodded while he was listening, and folded his hands. When she finished, he stared down at them, answering, "Again, I'm sorry. It was not my intention to distress you. But I felt it would have been prudent for us to examine all this from as many angles as possible. I went to speak with many of the legendary Pokemon throughout the world."

Hibiki stirred at that, "What? Why?"

He didn't answer for a moment, and then must have decided to change the subject. "Do you… understand what Giovanni was going to attempt?"

Hibiki shook his head, "What's _that_ got to do with anything?"

Yamamoto raised supplicating hands, "Please, let me explain." Hibiki settled and the being at his left went on, "In his last moments, Giovanni made his mind vulnerable to my sight. Having sorted through what I saw, coupled with some things Mewtwo had worked out for himself, I think I've reached some very important points of clarity." And, as he had probably hoped, he had their fullest attention with that. "Mewtwo told you that Giovanni had originally intended to make a body into which he could transfer his consciousness. As you heard him say yourselves, Giovanni's aim had never been the simple control of an ancestral Pokemon's power— he wanted the opportunity to explore the world from which they came."

Hibiki held up a finger at that. "Yeah, please explain that."

Yamamoto nodded. "Pokemon possess the unique abilities and powers they do because they are descendants of those you call the 'ancestor race', or 'ancestral Pokemon'. Your history books are filled with tales of failed expeditions and investigations into who these ancestors were, your only clues ancient murals cast by your own ancestors in worship of these beings. I'll tell you this, they never find any remains of a Mew— or any of the others— because as suddenly as they entered this world, they would leave it again."

"Almost never," Hibiki corrected. "Giovanni must have found some, or you wouldn't be here."

Sighing, Yamamoto nodded, acknowledging the point. "In any case, I believe Pokemon are the result in crossbreeding between these ancestral beings and your own wildlife." Both of them must have worn disbelieving looks, so Yamamoto verified, "Explain to me, then, why you have Pokemon that resemble common birds, marine life, or even livestock. Tell me, why is it so many of the functions or places once occupied by typical wildlife hundreds and even thousands of years ago are now held by Pokemon?"

Hibiki gave Suma a grudging look, perhaps unwilling to say it but having to agree that it was curious. "And _beside_ such speculation," Yamamoto added, "you saw for yourself the truth when, with Al's help, Giovanni was banished into a place _between_ worlds— such other worlds exist."

Again, Suma felt herself tense at the memory. When he had been ready, Hibiki had told her of Al's confession back at Nongmin's farm, that he had foreseen his own death. She'd already accepted that Al had likely done what he had because— if he hadn't— they couldn't be sure whether things would have panned out as they did. She didn't blame Yamamoto, or didn't _want_ to… but the painful emotions were sometimes difficult to direct reasonably. "So, what?" she prodded, trying to push the conversation on. "Pokemon are the descendants of… of an alien planet?"

Yamamoto shook his head. "No, not quite. It's _more_ like," he observed ponderously, "they belong to another dimension entirely. Above this one— let's say, above and slightly to the left— is another plane of reality. The energies that allow Pokemon to do what they do, _come_ from this realm of existence. In ascending layers, there are _more_ worlds yet, places where those energies become more and more material and the material becomes… well, immaterial."

She shook her head, "Whoa, slow down. I don't understand."

Yamamoto pulled a face. "I'm sorry— I can't really say with authority what _any_ of those places are like. All I have are the speculations of Giovanni and Mewtwo, combined with my own."

Hibiki speculated himself, speaking with his hands. "So, what you're saying is,— above ours and slightly to the left, or whatever— there's another dimension? That Pokemon belong to this other dimension, where living things made of pure energy—"

"I couldn't possibly begin to imagine what the residents of those worlds are like," Yamamoto cut him off. "But I _am_ saying— yes, Pokemon are descendants of this higher realm. And Giovanni's intention was to get there, and beyond if he could."

" _Why_?" Hibiki demanded, growing exasperated.

"You're not going to like the answer," Yamamoto warned. Hibiki gestured him on. "Honestly? I think it was simply because he could." Yamamoto was right, Hibiki did _not_ like that answer. When she thought he was going to say or do something rash, Suma reached over and put her hand on his leg. It stilled him, and instead he simply nodded for Yamamoto to go on. "And as much as you won't like to hear _this_ , I think it needs to be said: I think Giovanni was an inevitability. Mewtwo thought so, and you might have discovered that for yourselves when you met him."

Suma frowned, but realized that she _had_ glimpsed that in their exchange. "I don't know why he felt that way but… yes," she told him.

"He felt that way because, sooner or later," Yamamoto told her, "someone was likely to discover the source of Pokemon's powers. Now, I saw much, but not everything. I don't know how he did it, but clearly Giovanni came to an understanding of the truth."

"What does this have to do with the other legendary Pokemon?" Hibiki asked again.

"I went to see them," Yamamoto answered, "because I wanted to know if there was any way I could undo the damage Giovanni has done to this world."

And _that_ made sense to her. "Do they come directly _from_ the other world?" she asked. "Is that why you thought they might know?"

"Some do, yes," he answered. "Some are just… so old, so far back in the lineage, it's almost just as good."

"Did they know anything that could help?" she asked.

After a moment, he shook his head. "I regret that they didn't, no."

She wilted a little to hear it. But Hibiki stirred with a new thought. "You're gonna do it, aren't you?" he asked. "You're going to… to try and go to this other world, to see if you can find an answer to the problem?"

She looked from Yamamoto to Hibiki, and back. "But... what about the cost, the price he—"

"I've found a way," Yamamoto assured her. "With their help, and the Mewtwo's studies, I've found a way to… to _knock_ at the door, rather than tear one open. And yes, that is my intent."

That must have been why he had agreed to let Al… maybe they had both anticipated this being their only hope of healing their world. And as she worked it all out, she thought she saw a little further as well. "And that's why you didn't… didn't _sanitize_ me, isn't it? You want me to go with you."

"Not with _me_ , no," he corrected after a moment. "I was hoping you might be willing to venture into the dimensions that belong to _your_ ancestors."

She blinked at that, shaking her head. "Ok, _what_?"

"I told you that Pokemons' ancestral world is, perhaps, above and slightly to the left?" he reminded. She nodded, and he completed the idea, "Well, above and slightly to the _right_ … is another series of dimensions. You humans have this philosophical debate about the soul and the human life— is it just electrical signals in the body, or is there a spirit? Well, I _think_ that the energies that comprise what you interpret to be electrical signals or a soul— your very _consciousness_ is powered by energies inherent to this series of other worlds."

Hibiki sat back, seeming almost unwilling to listen further. "I'm sorry but this is absurd." Suma made a throaty sound at him, but he gave her a look, "I'm sorry, but it _is_ — it's almost pure _science-fiction_. It's worse than _Giovanni's_ scheme. Other dimensions, dual layers of worlds, the _soul_ , the—"

Yamamoto silenced him by reaching out his hand to rest his palm against Hibiki's forehead. Next to her Hibiki spasmed for a moment, and an involuntary cry of protest rumbled in her chest. But just as quickly, he removed his hand and Hibiki was shaking himself free of whatever had passed over him. When Hibiki seemed able to listen, Yamamoto apologized. "I'm sorry, I know it was impolite. But you were being unreasonable, so instead of try to _reason_ with you, I decided to show you."

Hibiki dry-washed his face, and Suma clutched at his arm to see if he was alright. He patted her hand, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little shocked." He gave her a reassuring smile, then looked grimly back at Yamamoto. "Alright, your little psychic-thought-sharing deal convinced me— not only do you really _believe_ all this garbage, but there appears to be a pretty overwhelming amount of evidence to credit it."

Yamamoto looked over at her, and she shrugged. "I don't need a turn, I already believe you."

Yamamoto nodded, "I thought you might." He looked at both of them now, "I don't know if the answer lies with the energies inherent to my world, or the worlds beyond, but it might— it was these energies, or their perversion, that caused it. But following that logic, the solution might lie with the more intangible, spiritual forces that belong to the counterpoint series of worlds. Again, in the interest of considering all possible angles…"

"…you want someone to go to _them_ , as well," Suma completed for him. When he nodded wordlessly, she speculated, "And you think it has to be a human, one who's psyche has been… awakened in ways most others' haven't."

Again he nodded. "If a solution is to be found… the journey must be risked."

She sighed. "I would have no idea how to do what you're asking me. Or if I'm even capable."

"I would have to show you," Yamamoto told her, "to train you to do it. But I'm confident you can."

They were all silent for a moment. "No," Hibiki said finally. He looked from Yamamoto to Suma. "No. No way. Things aren't getting any worse, let's just… just leave it alone."

Suma frowned. She looked over at Yamamoto, "We need time to think about it."

Hibiki guffawed, sardonic. "There's nothing to think about— the answer's _no_."

She ignored him, and thankfully so did Yamamoto. "I understand," he said. He rose, and so did she. "All you need to do is call for me when you've reached your decision. I will not argue, I will not press you. Hibiki is right— things aren't getting worse and they likely won't. But if we don't do _something_ … well, I don't know that things are just going to get better on their own." And leaving them to that thought, he teleported out.

When he was gone, she collapsed into her seat. She didn't say anything, and decided she'd just wait for the protest she knew was coming. And come it did. "You're honestly thinking about it, aren't you?"

She gave him a curious look. "Why are you so opposed to it?"

"It's gonna be _dangerous_ , Suma," he warned. "You heard Giovanni— he was nothing compared to what might be out there."

She made a face. "It was dangerous to traipse into Cerulean with me, but you came along well enough on _that_ one."

"I made a _promise_!" he snapped, slapping the table. His sudden outburst alarmed her. "Al didn't just come to tell me he was going to die, he came to ask me for a _favor_. He asked me to protect you, and I _swore_ …" tears gathered in his eyes. "I gave him my _word_ , Suma. Don't you make me a liar."

Her chest tightened a little. "You never told me that."

He nodded, sniffing. "I… I didn't want you to be any more hurt than you already were."

She couldn't help but smile at that. Reaching over she took his hand, their fingers interlocking. "Hibiki?" she said, quietly urging his eyes to hers. When he looked up, "I don't think I could live with myself If I didn't do something. Could you?"

After a moment, despite his tears, he grinned. "Nope. Probably not."

She smiled wider and felt herself blush again, but now she didn't care. She stood and leaned toward him, pressing her lips to his in a gentle and loving kiss. Resting her forehead against his, she sighed contentedly. "I didn't think so," she whispered.

"Curse you, Maki Suma," he mock-jibed, pulling her into an embrace. "Always making me _do_ things."


End file.
